The Language of Life
by Arrowfoot the Dragon
Summary: Explore the politics, religions, and legends of the Pokémon world as Eve discovers the meaning of her talent for communicating with pokémon. Pokémon and humans alike will help her along the way, but will that be enough when myth and reality collide?
1. Beginning the Journey

Author's Note: The tilde (~) is used grammatically just like a pair of quotation marks, except a pair of tildes around a statement refers to pokémon speech only. Italics are used for Eve's thoughts and telepathic pokémon communications. Series of colons are used to indicate time breaks in the story.

* * *

**Chapter One: Beginning the Journey**

"Why do you guys always pick on _me_!" Eve shouted desperately as she sprinted, hoping that just this once the beedrill swarm might actually listen.

Predictably, the beedrill continued their chase in spite of her pleading, and so the eighteen-year-old girl forced her body to keep running. She looked into the trees on both sides of the path as she pushed herself onward, searching for some sort of escape while doing her best not to trip. The vibrant red-orange hair of her ponytail streamed behind her as she hurried forward, making her an even more noticeable target on such a gray, overcast day. Even if the beedrill hadn't been so close behind her, Eve knew that her hair alone would have made it difficult for her to hide.

The pichu sitting on her shoulder suddenly tugged on the thin braid that dangled from the side of her face, trying to get her to hurry up. He was small for a pichu; that is, small except for his overly long tail, which stretched longer than he was tall.

"Are they getting closer?" Eve gasped out.

The pichu tugged harder at her hair. ~Yes! Please let me attack already!~

Eve risked a glance back, almost causing her to trip. Her pichu was right; she wasn't running at top speed anymore, and the beedrill were barely ten feet behind her. Her legs were burning with exhaustion, and she knew that the insect pokémon would probably catch up in less than a minute.

Seeing how desperate the situation was getting, Eve was forced to relent. "If you're sure you can do it, then go ahead!" she said. "I can't think of anything else we can do!"

~Finally!~ The pichu said as it jumped off of her shoulder, straight towards the five beedrill. He landed on the head of the leader and immediately sent out a thunderwave into the heart of the swarm. The leader and the two beedrill closest to him fell to the ground immediately, but the other two flew relentlessly onward, unfazed by the attack.

~Two of them are still after you!~ The pichu shouted as he started to give chase.

Eve scowled, unhappy with how events were turning out. _Well, I've got to get back to Basil. He's the best chance I have at getting away from the beedrill,_ she thought to herself, wishing that she hadn't let the pichu separate himself from her. _I suppose I don't have a choice, then._

Eve suddenly veered off to the side of the path and grabbed a thin tree, using it as a pivot to turn without losing too much momentum. One of the beedrill following her hit the tree; the other managed to scratch Eve's arm as she ran to meet back up with Basil.

The pichu jumped up to Eve's shoulder and examined her upper arm, obviously concerned about the long line of blood now dripping from the cut. ~Are you okay?~

Eve gritted her teeth in obvious pain, then quickly turned and ran back the way she came. "No time for that – those two are coming back!" She said between breaths. "Basil, can you attack them from my shoulder?"

~Not without hurting you,~ Basil replied, watching the beedrill as they started to gain ground. ~Just let me jump off again! I got three the first time. I'm sure I can finish off those last two easily enough.~

Their argument was cut short as a voice shouted out from among the trees just to their right. "Magby, use ember!"

At the edge of her vision, Eve saw a barrage of fiery cinders fly towards the beedrill. Even so, she didn't dare stop until she was certain that the beedrill were out of action.

~Eve, you can stop running now! The beedrill were hit!~ Basil confirmed in just a moment, tugging excitedly on her braid.

Eve stopped and collapsed to the ground as her legs gave out. "I haven't… Had to run that much… Since freshman P.E. class…" she gasped out as she caught her breath. A flash of light from behind her caught her attention, and it occurred to her to see if she could figure out who had helped her.

Two men were emerging from the woods. One was tall and lean, with a magby by his side and a shirt with a red letter 'R' emblazoned on it; the other was shorter and slightly pudgy, with two pokéballs in his hands and a cap with the same 'R' logo. The beedrill were gone, leading Eve to guess that the shorter man had captured the two of them. _That would explain the flash of light, at least._

As she watched them, the taller man caught her eye. He nudged the shorter man and muttered something to him, and then both men approached Eve. The taller one offered his hand to help Eve off the ground. "Are you alright, Miss?"

Eve smiled gratefully and accepted the proffered hand. "Yeah, I'm okay now. Thanks." Then, scowling, she continued, "Those beedrill always bother me whenever I go to New Bark Town! Normally other pokémon come out and help me, but I guess they're all tucked away because of the upcoming storm." As if on cue, a raindrop plopped down in the center of Eve's forehead.

"Are you sure you're alright? What about your arm?" asked the shorter man, quickly taking off his bag and rummaging through it. "That looks like a pretty nasty cut. Just wait a minute; I've got some bandages in here somewhere."

Basil, still examining the cut from his spot on Eve's shoulder, commented, ~It's long, but it seems shallow. And I don't smell any poison from the beedrill's stingers, so you should be fine.~

Though he seemed convinced it would heal on its own, Basil nonetheless moved out of the way as the man bandaged Eve's arm. "Thanks," Eve said as he started. "By the way, can I ask what you two are doing out here? Do you work for someone? The red R's look familiar."

"You mean you don't know Rocket Corporation's logo?" The tall man asked incredulously.

"Oh, you mean like Team Rocket?" Eve said. "I thought they disbanded because the government thought they were evil."

The man laughed. "That's one way to put it, I suppose. But it reformed as the Rocket Corporation, which is now the leading distributor of pokémon and pokémon products in both Kanto and Johto. We're out catching pokémon for them to sell. Actually, those two beedrill will be a nice addition to what we have so far. Guess we were lucky to meet up with each other." Then, seeing Eve's scowl, he said, "What? Is something wrong?"

"Well, I can't really criticize you, since you just saved me and all," Eve said, not attempting to hide her frown. "But I can't say I exactly approve of catching pokémon just to be sold. It just seems sorta wrong to me, you know?"

~I agree,~ Basil said, flicking his ears in agitation. ~I don't think I'd like to be given to whoever paid the most money.~

Eve smiled at the pichu, but didn't respond; while she'd never really hidden the fact that she could understand Pokémon, bringing the subject up with strangers usually elicited more trouble than it was worth.

The man bandaging Eve's arm finished and quickly joined the conversation. "That may be true; perhaps it's not a good thing. On the other hand, there are a lot of benefits for everyone involved, especially the pokémon. Pokémon live longer when domesticated than they do in the wild, for example. And depending on who purchases it, the pokémon will either get a comfortable lifestyle as a pet or get stronger under the guidance of a trainer."

"Speaking of trainers," the other man added, "Are you just starting out on a journey? You look about sixteen, so you're a little old compared to when most kids start – not that age really matters in training pokémon – but I figure that you'd be able to fight off those beedrill with an electric-type like pichu if you'd been training a while."

"You're just changing the subject," Eve pouted. The tall man grinned sheepishly in affirmation. Nonetheless, Eve continued, "And I'm nearly nineteen, just so you know! Just 'cause I'm a _little_ bit on the small side doesn't make me younger!" At about 5'3" in height, Eve got a lot of comments on how young she looked. Part of the problem was that even if she miraculously got taller, her face still would have looked like that of someone a couple years younger. It also didn't help that she never wore makeup, which might've helped her look more her age.

Secretly, Eve enjoyed having this little quirk; it was by far not the most distinctive thing about her (talking to pokémon claimed that prize), yet it made her feel unique nonetheless. Even so, she made a fuss about it whenever someone thought she looked younger than she really was.

"Sorry, sorry!" The man said, realizing he had hit a nerve. "But my question stands: are you just starting out on a journey?"

Eve pouted for a moment longer, contemplating whether or not to answer. Then she yielded. "Yeah, I am just starting out, though I've known my pichu, Basil, for several years now." The pichu in question perked up with pride as Eve continued, "I'm actually heading over to Professor Elm's lab right now; I volunteer there a lot whenever I'm visiting relatives in New Bark Town, so he promised me a pokémon, even though I've already got Basil."

Just as she finished speaking, the wind picked up and the rain started coming down harder. "Well, we don't want to hold you up any longer if a big storm is coming," the tall man said as he withdrew his magby back to its pokéball. "Are you sure you'll be fine walking to New Bark Town? You've probably got another hour or two to go before you reach it."

Eve smiled. Even if these guys were catching pokémon to be sold, she couldn't help but like them. "I'll be fine. Those beedrill were the only ones that have a nest near enough to the road to be a bother. Thank you, though. Oh, and one more thing before you leave," Eve said as the two started turning to walk down the path towards Cherrygrove City.

"And what's that?"

"Basil paralyzed a few more beedrill back there in the road. If they're still there, would you please not capture them? They were just protecting their territory, and if all of them are taken, then no one will be left to protect the weedle and kakuna in the area."

The men looked at each other and smiled. "I think two beedrill is enough for us, little Miss," the tall man said. "We'll gladly leave the others alone, if you're willing to forgive those pesky beedrill so easily."

Eve grinned. "Thanks!" she said, shouting to make herself heard over the peals of thunder.

As the two groups went their separate ways, the tall man chuckled and muttered to his partner, "Interesting girl, huh? I mean, starting out on a journey at age eighteen? Most kids can't wait to start their journey. I had no sooner 'graduated' from junior high than I was on my own journey with my magby."

"Forget the journey part," the shorter man replied as they continued walking. "I don't think I know a single person that would go out of his way to protect wild beedrill from capture. Definitely a unique girl. Imagine a couple of Rockets like us, helping out a girl like that?"

The other man laughed, completely ignoring his now sopping clothes. "This'll definitely be something to tell the guys working in the distribution department."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"All right! I'm finally here!" Eve announced as Professor Elm opened his lab door and let her in.

"I'm glad you made it; I was worried that the storm might have forced you to bunk down in the woods somewhere until it died down," Elm said. Then he looked at Eve with his signature expression of puzzlement. "Your clothes are completely soaked through… Did you really walk all the way here in a thunderstorm like this? And what happened to your arm?"

Eve shook her head, causing water droplets to drip off of her ponytail and onto the ground. "It's nothing, Professor," she insisted. "Just some beedrill trouble on the way over. Again. And a little thunderstorm never hurt anyone, did it? Anyway, you wouldn't happen to have a spare towel I could use, do you? I don't want to get water all over your floor."

As Eve dropped her waterproof traveling bag to the ground, Basil took the opportunity to shake himself, spraying water all over Professor Elm. Elm smiled slightly. "Hello to you, too, Basil."

~Nice to see you again!~ the pichu responded from his vantage point atop Eve's head, though to the regular person Basil hadn't even made the sound or eye-contact that would have signified some sort of acknowledgement.

Eve knew this, and translated. "He says it's nice to see you again, Professor. So, about that towel…" She said, looking down at her clothes. Her tight red t-shirt was completely soaked through, and the bottoms of her jeans were splattered with mud from the walk. _At least I was smart enough not to bring any white shirts along for my journey_, Eve thought.

"That's right. Towels," Elm said, remembering the request. "I've actually got several; when you work with water pokémon, it's always good to have a few around. And by the way, thunderstorms _have_been known to hurt people before. You should be more careful."

Eve pouted. "Aw, but that's no fun!" she argued as she took the towel from Elm and began to try to pat her clothes dry. "And besides, Basil likes all the electricity in the air."

~Most definitely,~ Basil confirmed.

"Even so…" Elm trailed off, then moved onto another subject as something else caught his eye. "Even if it's kind of damp, I can see that you have your hair up. That's new."

"Yep," Eve confirmed. "I thought I'd want it out of my face when traveling, so I decided to try it like this. And do you like the braid that I have hanging down at the side?" she asked, fingering where it started at the right side of her head.

"Um, I suppose so," Elm said, not sure exactly how to respond. "I'm rather interested in that blue strand of the braid. It doesn't look like you just died your hair…"

Eve ran her hand down the braid, fingering the twisting pattern of red and blue. "Do you remember that turtle pokémon I told you about, that's sort of the boss of the pokémon in my neck of the woods?"

"The wartortle, yes," Elm said. "I'm still surprised you happened to find one; that whole evolution line is supposed to be extinct in the wild… Are you saying that the light blue strand is from the wartortle's tail?"

"That pretty much sums it up!" Eve said as she hung up the towel on a coat rack, finally finished drying off. All of her clothes were still sodden, but at least she wasn't dripping all over the place now. "He said that it contains wisdom, and I definitely need all of that I can get now that I'll be off on my own. Well, not completely on my own." She reached up, picked Basil off of her head, and held the tiny mouse in her arms instead. Basil snuggled up to her contentedly.

Still looking at the braid, Elm said, "Well, I doubt it actually brings wisdom… That's just an old wives' tale. Even so, wartortle are said to be able to live for well over a hundred years… You might be able to tell a lot from the proteins used to construct the hairs over the years…"

Eve rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I know that research is your life. However, we have more important things to do, now that I'm all dried off."

Elm hesitated. "Are you sure you want to do it now? It's nearly eight o' clock, and you must've been walking for hours to get here in a single day. Why don't you stay at your grandfather's house tonight, then come back and choose your pokémon in the morning?"

"I've already made you wait this long for me to arrive. We might as well get it out of the way." Seeing the professor's concerned look, she added, "And I'll head straight over to my grandpa's house afterwards, and spend the night there, if that's what you're worried about."

Elm sighed. "If you insist, then follow me."

As Elm led Eve through the corridors of his lab, Eve asked, "So why haven't you ever let me meet these pokémon when I've volunteered here in the past, Professor?"

"Well, most trainers don't have a chance to truly get to know their first pokémon before they choose it," he explained. "It seemed more traditional if I made this your first time seeing them."

~That's a silly tradition,~ Basil said, jumping down from his perch and continuing next to Eve on foot. ~What if you end up choosing a pokémon that doesn't get along with you? Or, more importantly, a pokémon that _I_ don't like?~

Eve laughed. "Don't worry; I'll make sure to consult you before making the final decision," and in answer to Elm's questioning glance back, she explained, "Basil just thinks that it's a silly tradition, since I might accidentally choose a pokémon that neither of us end up liking."

Elm nodded understandingly; by now, he was fairly used Eve's responses to pokémon's silent comments. "And here we are," he said finally, opening a door. "Just let me release them all from their pokéballs, and then you can make your choice."

The room was quite different than the other research areas Eve had seen in the building. Most noticeably, this room was carpeted, and had balls and sticks and other such toys lying around the ground. "I'd normally let you see them in a more suitable pin that I have out back, but this is the room I use when it's too stormy to go outside," Elm explained as he removed a basket of pokéballs from a cabinet. Each had a different color of tape on the outside to represent the collar on its respective pokémon, Eve realized as Elm let the pokémon out one by one.

All told, Elm released four cyndaquil, totodile, and chikorita each. Despite the close similarity between individuals of the same species, it was easy for Eve to tell one apart from the other three it resembled; there were obvious differences in hue, size, and attitude that Eve was immediately able to pick up on. However, despite their differences, there was one thing that they all had in common: they all wanted Eve's attention.

~Oh, hey, are you choosing a pokemon?~ asked one of the larger cyndaquil.

~Wow, you can understand us?~ a chikorita asked, before Eve had even had a chance to respond to any of them; her ability was something that all pokémon were able to sense without Eve needing to say a word.

~That's so cool! I've never met anyone like that!~ a cyndaquil with particularly bright shades of blue said.

~If you're really choosing a pokémon, then choose me!~ a totodile said as it jumped up and down. ~I'm definitely the best!~

~No you're not!~ chorused a group of multiple pokémon, in a way that made Eve guess that the totodile in question was always that boastful.

Eve laughed at the enthusiasm and looked around again. Now that she paid more attention, she saw that some of the pokémon weren't as courageous as these few; some were hanging back at the fringes of the group that was crowding around Eve's ankles, too shy to talk but too interested and hopeful to not pay attention.

For a couple minutes, Eve did her best to introduce herself to all the pokémon around her, including the more timid ones. Then she noticed something odd. While there were four each of the fire and water types, there were only three chikorita around.

"Hmm? Why isn't there another chikorita?" she asked, looking up to Elm. "I could've sworn I saw you release four of them."

Elm looked around. "Oh, she seems to be right over there," he said, pointing towards the far corner of the room. A lone chikorita sat there, with her head in a corner and her leaf drooping off to one side. But this wasn't half of what made her different from the others. Unlike the other chikorita, this one had buds and a leaf that weren't green, but purple. A rich, deep violet hue. Her body, too, had a slightly darker tint of green to it, but that was nowhere near as noticeable as the purple.

Eve walked over and crouched down next to the odd chikorita. The other basic pokémon tried to win back Eve's attention, but to no avail. "May I ask what you're doing over her in this corner?"

The chikorita turned her head so that she could face Eve, though she kept her leaf drooping sadly. ~Whenever people come here to pick one of us, they immediately consider me, just because I stand out. Which would be fine if not for the fact that all of those humans seem like they don't know the first thing about battling.~

~She wants to use her _own_ battle strategies,~ one of the other chikorita taunted. ~She's too _good_ to simply take a human's orders.~ The pokémon around the taunting chikorita mumbled their agreement.

~That's not true!~ the purple-leafed chikorita said defensively, jumping up. ~I mean, it would be cool if a human would pay attention to my strategies, but I know that won't happen. If the human could give me good orders for battle, though, I'd respect him. I just want to be able to battle well.~

Eve sat down and placed Basil in her lap. "Well, I can't say that I'm a good battler. Heck, I'm probably not even a mediocre battler," Eve said. "However… I am talking with you right now. I could listen to your battle suggestion. Who knows? If you're really good at strategy, then you could even help _me_ learn how to battle. Not to mention, I'll be going to a school about pokémon in about a week, in the city north of here. If you really want to learn how to battle well, I could take notes and teach you everything I learn from there." The chikorita's eyes were practically alight with excitement and hope; Eve could tell that this offer was like a dream-come-true for her. "Basil, do you agree? Think you'd like to have her come along with us?"

Basil hopped out of Eve's lap and stood in front of the chikorita. He flicked an ear and, after a few moments, said, ~I don't see why not.~

"So what about it? Would you like to come with me?" Eve asked.

The chikorita's violet leaf was now perked up and trembling with enthusiasm. ~Really? You're sure you want a chikorita like me?~

Eve tilted her head, confused. "Of course. Why wouldn't I want to bring along someone like you?"

~Well…~ the chikorita said, her leaf drooping down slightly, ~everyone says that my leaf is hideous and weird. I didn't think anyone would want a chikorita without a green leaf.~

Eve scowled and looked around at the pokémon around her. "You mean these guys said that? If that's the case, then they're just bullies who don't know what they're talking about."

This was followed by a rousing protest made by many of the pokémon. ~But it's true! It's so weird! Who's ever heard of a purple-leafed chikorita?~ one chikorita defended.

~I'm no bully!~ the boastful totodile said. ~I didn't say any of that stuff!~

~You apparently didn't tell them to stop, either!~ Basil protested, silencing the totodile for a few moments.

Turning her attention back to the purple-leafed chikorita, Eve said, "I assure you that I find your violet-colored leaf much more beautiful than the dull green leaves that these other chikorita have."

~Really?~ asked the chikorita above the squeals of her outraged kin.

"Definitely," Eve confirmed. "In fact… If you don't mind nicknames – you don't, do you? I know it seems silly, since no matter what I call you, you'll always know who I'm talking to; but humans use names 'cause it's not that easy for them. So can I give you a nickname?" The chikorita nodded. "All right, then I'm going to call you Hannah, 'cause it sounds like the ancient unown-script word 'hana', which means 'flower', if I'm remembering it correctly. I'm naming you that because I think you're just as beautiful as even the prettiest of flowers. How about that?"

~I'd love that name,~ Hannah confirmed, tentatively coming up and rubbing against Eve's leg. Eve stroked the violet leaf for a few moments (doing her best to ignore the protests of the other starters upset at not getting a trainer), and then stood up. Basil took up his customary perch on Eve's shoulder, and Eve grabbed Hannah in her arms. The chikorita protested slightly at first, uncomfortable with the odd sensation of being lifted; but as soon as she was securely in Eve's arm, she relaxed once again.

"Professor, I'd like this one."

Elm let out a sigh of relief. "I'm really glad. I was listening in on your conversation; I never would have guessed that a pokémon would want to use it's own strategies. I was afraid that the chikorita was just getting too strong to pay any attention to the trainers that come here to get their pokémon. She already knows razorleaf and vine whip, whereas all the others know little more than the basic tackle attack. And I've seen her defeat most of the pokémon in here in their little mock battles. I was afraid that if she got any stronger, I was going to have to release her into the wild. I can't be giving away strong pokémon to trainers that can't handle them, after all."

Elm carefully took off the red collar that was on Hannah's neck and found the matching pokéball. Eve set Hannah down and took the red and white sphere. "Well, here you go," Elm said. "And, on a side note, you probably could've made that motivational speech a little less sentimental."

Eve stuck out her tongue at him. "Oh, deal with it. If my encouragement is a bit sappy, then so be it. If you're wife's gossip is anything to go by, then maybe you could even learn something from it."

Elm gaped for a few moments, unsure of how to respond.

"Oh, calm down, I'm only teasing," Eve said. "Though you should consider going home early some night and taking her out to dinner, or something. I've managed to pick that much up from the town gossip, and _I'm_ not even around here all the time, like you are."

Elm's face turned ever so slightly red, and he busied himself by returning all the other starter pokémon to their pokéballs. "If you'll just wait a couple minutes while I finish tidying up things in here, I'd be glad to drive you home so you don't have to get all wet again," he said, trying to change the subject.

"That'd be great, thanks," Eve said, deciding not to embarrass the professor anymore.

"And there's one more thing I wanted to say…" Elm started, then trailed off.

"What?"

"Never mind. It's nothing."

"Aw, come on! You can't do this to me, Professor! What were you going to say?" Eve asked.

~Yeah, I want to hear it, too!~ Basil added, though to effect.

Elm let out a breath. "Well, fine then. You probably hear this all the time, but you're a very unique girl. It's not every day that someone who can talk to pokémon comes along. Even aside from that, you've been one of the best assistants I've had around the lab, even if you can't do the really scientific things that my full-time employees and interns do. So when you do head out on your journey… just be careful." And, with a meaningful look down at her arm, added, "There are plenty more beedrill than just the ones you have trouble with, after all."

Eve smirked. "Look who's being all sentimental _now_," she taunted. Then, more genuinely, she added, "Don't worry about it. I've got Basil and Hannah now, so I figure we ought to be fine. Even so, I appreciate your concern. I'll make sure that I'm careful; I'm certainly not leaving home with the intention of dying, after all. Who knows? Maybe after I've had my fill of traveling, I'll decide to come back here and work with you permanently. But whatever happens, I'll be fine. What really could go wrong?"

"You mean other than a beedrill attack before you even officially get your first pokémon?"

Eve scowled jokingly. "Okay, other than that, what could go wrong?"

Elm lightened up and smiled. "With someone like you, _everything_ will go wrong. I'm certain of that."

"Hey! At least _I_ can walk down the halls without tripping on my shoelaces, unlike _some _bumbling scientists."

As they argued back and forth, Basil hopped down from Eve's shoulder and stood next to Hannah.

~They do this all the time,~ the pichu explained. ~I heard the professor mention once that Eve is one of only a few people that don't treat him like the smartest guy around. Eve didn't hear him say that, though.~

Hannah waved her leaf back and forth happily. ~Well, it doesn't matter to me whether she's serious or laid back. I'm just glad I got to meet her before Elm tossed me out of the lab.~

~You want to know something?~ Basil asked.

~What?~

~Compared with all those other stuck-up pokémon you were grouped with… I think I'm kinda glad that she met you, too.~

* * *

Sorry if the ending was a bit too corny for you; I promise that it usually won't be like that. I just had a heck of a time finding a way to end this chapter.

Anyway, here are a few quick notes about this story:

1. Chapters will come out weekly; I already have a stockpile of nine chapters to ensure that I don't get behind.

2. Chapters will usually be around 5,000 words. If a chapter is over 7,000 words, I'll split it in two; this is the only time you'll have chapters under 4,000 words.

3. Constructive criticism is both welcomed and desired.


	2. Training

**Chapter Two: Training**

"So we'll need to go northwest from here," Eve said to Hannah and Basil, scanning her map. "If we move at a steady pace, we should be there in two days. And even if we go slow, it'll take no more than three days. Then we'll be at Violet City, and I'll be able to take my month-long pokémon summer school class. Sound good to everyone?"

~Are you sure you're okay for traveling?~ Basil asked. ~When you changed the bandages on your arm this morning, the wound still looked kind of bad. Those beedrill's stingers can be pretty damaging.~

Eve fingered the bandaging wrapped around her arm. "That's nothing. As you yourself said, it's shallow. And I don't need my arm to travel. It still stings a little, but I'll get over it. But you didn't answer my question: does everyone agree with the route we're taking?"

Basil twitched his ear, not completely satisfied that Eve's wound was completely okay. Nonetheless, he tried to shake the thought from his mind as he looked at the map in Eve's hands. ~But aren't we supposed to follow that little line?~ He asked from Eve's shoulder, using his long tail to point to the route that Eve normally took when heading back and forth from Cherrygrove City to New Bark Town.

A purple vine extended from one of the buds on Hannah's neck as she reached up. ~Hey! I want to see where we're going, too!~

"Alright, alright! Just hold on a minute!" Eve said, stopping and crouching so she could lay the map on the ground where everyone could see. "Most people would normally follow the regular routes like you said, Basil," Eve explained, knowing that Hannah probably couldn't even read the map she was so eager to see. "But I don't meet nearly as many new pokémon if I stick to the paths. Besides, it's faster if we walk straight there."

Hannah withdrew her vine unhappily as Eve rolled up the map. ~But we don't have time to be talking to other pokémon along the way. I've got to start training as soon as possible, so we've got to hurry to that school thing in the other town.~

"No matter how fast we go, classes still don't start for five days," Eve said. "But if you're so eager about it, I don't see why we can't start training now, along the way. Speaking if which, if you're going out of your way to get stronger, do you want to take on the gym challenge?"

~Gym challenge? What's that?~ Hannah asked.

"Well, there are these eight buildings called 'gyms' scattered around Johto in different towns," Eve said. "You pretty much battle other trainers inside of them, and if you beat everyone – including the gym leader, who's really good at battling – then you get a badge. It's supposed to be a good way to test your strength. When you have no badges, the first gym is supposed to be easy, but then they ramp up their strength the more badges you get. So do you want to try it?"

Hannah pranced back and forth excitedly for a few moments as she looked up at her trainer. ~Sounds like a great way to battle! I'd love to try it. But I'll have to get way stronger first. We need to start training right away!~

"Hmm… But if we're going to try to take on the gyms, I'll need at least one more pokémon to start out with. Basil, do you want to train and get stronger, too?"

~Totally!~ the pichu replied excitedly, wagging his tail back and forth. ~I mean, I don't care for battling as much as Hannah does, but I can't wait to evolve into a pikachu, like my parents! And maybe I could even evolve past that…~

"But didn't you say you could evolve into a pikachu whenever you wanted to?" Eve asked. "Both of your brothers did years ago, at the very least. I remember that much. And I'm pretty sure pikachu don't evolve into raichu based on power alone… They need a special stone, or something."

Basil jumped nonchalantly onto Eve's head. ~That's true, but I've been waiting for just the right moment to evolve, and I don't want to evolve until I'm strong enough to feel like I deserve it! Plus, wouldn't it be even sad if I was a pikachu and I _still_ couldn't take out those beedrill from yesterday? So I've got to get stronger by myself, even if I don't have to in order to evolve.~

"If that's how you feel about it, then I'll try to help you train, too." Eve replied. "So if we have that all worked out now, why don't we start our traveling training right now? I'm no great trainer, but I think I do have a couple of ideas to at least get us going. Let me start with Basil, since I know his abilities better."

~Okay… What do I have to do?~ Basil asked.

"Firstly, you're going to stay on the ground, rather than ride on my shoulder all the time. I bet that will improve your stamina a little bit," Eve said. "And secondly, you should work on your electric attacks. Why don't you try keeping a steady electric current going through your body as you walk? It doesn't have to be powerful… just consistent. Does that sound possible?"

~I don't like the fact that I have to stay on the ground all the time,~ Basil said as he jumped off of Eve's head to the ground. ~But if you think it'll help, I will. And the electric thing will take some practice, but I bet I'll be able to do it if I keep trying at it up for a couple hours.~

~What about me?~ Hannah asked as small sparks started to fly around Basil's body. ~What would you suggest I do?~

Eve twirled her braid around a finger. "I don't really know what you can do yet, so I'm not quite sure, to be honest. Can you show me some of your attacks?"

~Sure! Here's the vine whip that the professor was talking about,~ she said, demonstrating by extending one of her vines out about five feet and whacking it against a nearby tree trunk.

Eve watched critically, then asked, "Can you only hit stuff with it? I remember watching shows when I was a kid where grass pokémon used their vines to pick things up."

Hannah hesitated. ~I can pick things up,~ she confirmed. ~But if it's much heavier than me, I become unbalanced and fall down. But I can learn to compensate for it; I did when I battled the other pokémon I was around back at the lab. Though if something's too heavy, then no matter how much I practice, I have no chance at lifting it.~

"That's understandable," Eve responded. "Besides, just being able to grab small things should be really useful. And what about the length of your vines? Is that the max of how far they go, or can you stretch them to make them longer? And what about multiple vines?"

~I'm not sure about the stretching, really. I've never thought about it. What I just showed you is as far as I can go right now, but I bet if I practiced it more I could get them to extend more. And as for multiple vines…~ She extended one vine from both the left and right sides of her neck to demonstrate. ~This is about all I can manage well. Each bud on my neck can be used as a vine. But the more of them I use at once, the harder it is to concentrate on keeping the movements under control.~

Eve nodded. "Okay, so what other moves do you know?"

~Watch the leaf,~ Hannah said as she started to accumulate a purplish powder that matched the color of her leaf. ~That's poisonpowder. I can use the leaf to power it through the air a little ways, though I won't right now so that I don't poison some pokémon around here without meaning to." She slowly let it disperse as she walked; Eve hoped that the trail of poison would be diffuse enough that the pokémon in the area really wouldn't have anything to worry about.

Then, once the poison had been completely scattered, Hannah continued. ~I can also use razorleaf, though I'm still getting kinda used to it.~ She swung her leaf rapidly around, sending a razor-sharp leaf zooming forward with each rotation. Eve marveled, wondering how she did it: was her main leaf growing back so quickly that, whenever she sent one off, it never appeared that her leaf had left? Or did that main leaf have many layers with the ability to separate from each other?

_Another nice attack_, Eve thought as she watched the leaves cut cleanly into a bush ahead of her. _No wonder she wanted a good trainer… I just feel bad that I can't live up to that expectation as well as she'd like._

As if to prove Eve's point, the bush that had been hit by Hannah's leaves shuddered, and a grumpy-looking pink pokémon emerged, growling. It was only about two feet tall, with big, floofy, almost tubular ears and short, stubby appendages. It also had a light-blue sort of ruff and some similarly colored polka dots. Even though all this together gave it a rather comical look, it's angry expression and strong-looking mouth made it look to Eve like a formidable opponent. Certainly not someone she wanted to mess with when she was just starting out on her journey.

"I'm so sorry, snubbull – we didn't mean to hit the bush you were in. Hannah just got carried away," Eve apologized, hoping to calm the snubbull down some.

~It's her fault if she's going to be hiding in a bush all day,~ Hannah grumbled.

The snubbull came closer, her ears raised threateningly. She looked ready to attack, and so Hannah and Basil instinctually placed themselves in between Eve and the possible threat. ~That's my bush!~ the snubbull growled. ~You can't just start attacking it! I'll teach you!~ the snubbull suddenly charged forward, straight towards Hannah.

~Basil, back off! This is my battle!~ Hannah said. Basil obliged and moved closer to Eve just as Hannah took the tackle attack. The chikorita dug in her feet and managed to stay standing; aside from her leaf, she and her opponent were about the same size, and appeared to be on about even ground in terms of strength.

~Do you have any battle directions?~ Hannah asked Eve frantically as she tried to put some distance between herself and the snubbull.

"Oh! Um…" _That's right, I'm supposed to be her trainer! I can do this… I hope. _"Uh, let's try a vine whip!"

Hannah extended both vines and began beating the snubbull with them; the snubbull, unable to move forward and attack, ran away a few feet to place herself out of the vines' range.

~Good idea!~ Hannah said. ~It doesn't look like it can attack with anything other than it's body! That means that ranged attacks like vine whip and razorleaf should work really well.~

The pink pokémon growled her defiance. Hannah shuddered involuntarily. ~That's growl attack, Eve,~ Basil explained. ~Now Hannah's attacks won't do as much damage.~

"What?" Eve had barely managed to ask the question before the snubbull charged forward again, her mouth opened wide. Without waiting for an order, Hannah used razorleaf to try and halt the rushing pokémon, but the snubbull ignored the attacks and continued blindly charging. Caught off guard, Hannah was unable to dodge and the snubbull bit tightly down at the base of her oddly-colored leaf.

~Ouch ouch ouch!~ Hannah yelped, tossing her head around to try to shake off the snubbull and get the pink pokémon out of her face. The snubbull just bit down harder, determined to keep her hold.

_This is why pokémon need trainers to really battle,_ Eve thought to herself as she desperately tried to think of something that Hannah could do. _No matter how smart or strong Hannah is, it's difficult for her to strategize when she's in a bind like this. _

Finally, Eve had an idea. It probably wasn't the best idea, but it would have to do. She waited for just the right moment in her chikorita's frenzied turning, then said, "Stop, Hannah. Don't turn anymore, and instead charge straight forward!"

Hannah did as she was told, though she was stumbling more than charging; the snubbull wasn't touching the ground at all, and so her weight made the chikorita very unbalanced. Even so, the plan worked relatively well. Hannah couldn't see where she was going thanks to the snubbul in her face, and so she crashed head-first into a tree. Or, rather, she crashed snubbull-first. The impact was enough to make the snubbull lose her grip, and the pink pokémon dropped to the ground.

When the pink pokémon got up again, it stance still seemed tense, and yet it had also lost much of it's aggressiveness. ~I know when I'm beat,~ the snubbull said. ~Though I still can't say that I appreciate being disturbed in my own den. So what are you going to do now, little human who can understand pokémon? Are you going to try to capture me with those things that people carry around? Because if so, then I'm going to do my best to run away right now, just so you know.~

"No, not at all!" Eve said as she sat down and reached into her bag, pulling a spray-type bottle out of an outside pouch. "In fact, I've got some potion right here. It's something that helps pokémon wounds to heal faster. Once I'm done treating Hannah here," she said as she put the chikorita in question in her lap, "then I'd be happy to treat you, if you want. It was our fault that we disturbed you, after all. Hannah, you should say that you're sorry."

~But I'm not!~ Hannah protested, though she kept her head still as Eve very expertly applied the medicine to her leaf. ~I was just practicing my attacks! I've got a right to do that wherever I want.~

Eve frowned. "No you don't. If it's this snubbull's home, then we shouldn't be disturbing her. Doesn't that make sense?"

~I guess…~ Hannah replied without even trying to sound sincere about it.

~I'll have to decline your offer for treatment,~ the snubbull said, interrupting the argument. ~With a crowd like this around, no one would _ever_ let me live it down if I was pampered by a human.~

Eve blinked and looked around, noticing for the first time that quite the crowd of pokémon had gathered to watch the battle. Some fluttered their wings or scratched at the ground in the pokémon equivalent of blushing as Eve looked around; others took it as their cue to let their comments fly.

~Wow, that was a great battle!~

~I haven't seen old lady snubbull here get beaten in a while, that's for sure.~

~You must be pretty strong for a grass pokémon," one pidgey said, causing protests to rise from the numerous grass pokémon below him.

"If I might ask, why are you out here in the wild, snubbull?" Eve questioned, ignoring the flurry of pokémon voices and motion around her. "I mean, I'd always heard that practically all snubbull were domesticated."

The snubbull began to smooth out her fur as she replied, ~You're right. I used to live in the city. Even had a human that took care of me for a while. But then she died in a car accident. I lived on the streets for a while after that, but it was tough. Eventually, I just came out here. But that was years and years ago; I doubt I could even find my way back to the city now.~

"Sorry to hear about your human," Eve said sympathetically. Then, moving quickly from the subject, she said, "Are you sure you don't want me to treat those cuts from the razorleaf attack?"

~No, I'll be fine in a day or two. Thanks for the offer, though,~ the snubbull said, now perfectly amiable. That was one of the biggest differences between humans and pokémon that Eve had always noticed; whereas humans would either hold grudges or not show their true emotions, pokémon switched from feeling to feeling as often as a zigzagoon changes directions.

Eve stood up and put the spray bottle back in her bag. "If you're sure about it, then I'm afraid that we'll have to head out now," Eve said. "It was nice talking with you!"

~Same here,~ the snubbull said contentedly. ~And little chikorita, I'd suggest you listen to your human's advice and be more careful with your attacks. Otherwise, you might find yourself face-to-face with a pokémon you can't handle.~

Hannah waved her leaf haughtily and did not respond. The snubbull didn't press the issue anymore as Hannah and Eve walked away.

"Basil, are you coming?" Eve called back when she noticed that the pichu wasn't immediately separating himself from the group of sentret he was talking to.

~Yeah! Sorry!~ Basil said, running to catch up. ~I was just trying to figure out if there were any mean pokémon in the area that we should avoid. If we keep walking the way we're going, we'll apparently run straight into a beedrill nest.~

A pidgey fluttered down from a tree nearby and landed on Eve's head. Basil's fur sparked in annoyance, but since he was banned from being carried for the sake of his training, he decided not to make a big deal about it.

~We could help you get through the forest for a ways, if you want,~ the pidgey said, gesturing with his wings to the small flock of five or six pidgey that was flying from tree to tree, keeping pace with Eve as she walked through the forest. ~We fly all around here, anyway, and roost wherever we want. Besides, we've never met a human that could talk to pokémon before. Not even in the city. We're sorta curious.~

Eve smiled. "That sounds amazing, if it's not too much trouble."

~But I need to _train_,~ Hannah complained.

Basil playfully tackled Hannah. ~You know, for someone who had absolutely no self-confidence yesterday, you certainly can be whiny today,~ he joked. ~Maybe I'm not so glad that Eve chose you… Even that stuck-up totodile might've been better than this.~

Hannah flicked her leaf back and forth, agitated. "Oh, don't get your vines in a tangle," Eve said before Hannah could make a comeback. "Both you and Basil can still train, even if the pidgey come along. I'll observe you _and_ talk to the pidgey at the same time. If you're already feeling better after that battle, then you can start right now. For _your _training, Hannah, I first want you to stretch out two of your vines to full length." Hannah did so, albeit unhappily. "Okay, now as we walk, I want you to touch things along the way, first with one vine and then the other. Logs, trees, bushes, I don't care what you touch, just make sure that it's not someone's home first."

The upset chikorita kept her vines extended, but let them drag along the ground in her frustration. ~But what's the point in that? It sounds so _boring_.~

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure training isn't supposed to be fun, exactly," Eve said patiently. "Keeping your vines moving while fully extended might help increase their length; tapping things over and over again as precisely as possible should help with dexterity. If it's too easy just using two vines, then try using three at once. Does it seem less pointless now?"

~Fine, whatever. I'll give it a try,~ Hannah said, shaking off most of her bad mood.

Eve grinned happily. "Glad to hear it." Then, immediately turning her attention to the bird pokémon in the trees around her, she asked, "So pidgey, what's up in this neck of the woods?"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

By the end of the second day of traveling, Basil and Hannah were both exhausted. Their improvised training drained more energy than either of them had been expecting, when added to their moderately paced hike through the forest.

Yet, to Eve's amazement, the impromptu training methods seemed to be working. Basil's thundershock attack was stronger than Eve had ever seen it in the nine years since he'd first hatched. That being said, it had never been strong at all to begin with, and both Basil and Eve recognized that it still needed improvement.

This fact was made all the clearer whenever they ran into unwelcoming pokémon; even with the pidgey's guidance, the group inevitably stumbled upon pokémon that didn't want a human anywhere near them, even one that could communicate well. When a pair of spearow attacked, even Basil's new-and-improved thundershock wasn't enough to knock them out. And though Eve didn't know a lot about battling, she did know that bird pokémon weren't supposed to be able to stand up to electric-type attacks. That incident just increased Basil's determination to get stronger.

Hannah, too, was rapidly developing her skills. After two days of training, her vines had increased in length from five feet to six, and she was on the verge of mastering the use of three vines at once. Aside from the miraculous comeback in the fight with the snubbull, Eve proved time and time again that she was rather hapless at battling. Despite this, though, Hannah's obviously successful training was enough to keep her relatively respectful towards Eve.

When they started out on their third day of travel, however, Hannah finally couldn't keep herself from pointing out Eve's shortcomings. ~You could be practicing, too,~ the chikorita said harshly. ~You don't seem to know how to battle very well.~

~You don't have to be so rude about it,~ one of the pidgey guides said. ~Besides, didn't you guys say that she's going to learn more about battling in the city you're going to? Can't she wait until then?~

"I'm okay with learning more right now," Eve said, ignoring the snide tone in Hannah's voice, though she was inwardly thankful to the pidgey for defending her. "I just don't know how. Did you have some idea?"

~You've attracted plenty of attention from the pokémon in the area,~ Hannah said, gesturing with her vines to a teddiursa, two hoppip, and some ledyba that were temporarily tagging along. ~Why don't you ask them to show you some of their attacks? That way you can start learning more about what kinds of pokémon use what attacks.~

Eve toyed with the thought for a few moments. "That's an idea," she said. "But it would slow us down even more. We're already on our third day of traveling when we could've been there yesterday."

~Didn't you say that we're not really in a rush, since your class doesn't start for another couple of days?~ Hannah pointed out. ~Besides, both your map and the pidgey say that we'll be there in the next couple of hours. Can't we take an hour or two more so that you can learn some things?~

Eve twirled her braid around her finger for a few moments, easily feeling the difference between her own greasy red strands and the long lock of silky wartortle hair. While she'd never been particularly picky about grooming (playing with pokémon all the time had long ago taken care of that), she _did _really want to get someplace where she could shower sometime soon.

Even so, she couldn't deny that what Hannah said was true; both she and Basil had been working hard these past few days, and all Eve had done to help was give them pointers. Turning to the wild pokémon, she said, "Well, if you guys are up for it, it'd be great if I could learn something from all of you."

~It sounds fun to me,~ the teddiursa said, his eyes wide as he licked his paw.

The group of ledyba rushed forward. ~Ooh, let us go first!~ the most energetic of them said. ~We'd love to show off our skills if it'd help you, even if we aren't all that strong.~

"Thanks," Eve said, not at all resentful that she wasn't going to get to take her shower as early as she'd wanted. In fact, she added rather cheerfully, "Let's go ahead and get started!"

So the morning progressed with all sorts of demonstrations of attacks interspersed throughout. After each species of pokémon showed off its repertoire of moves, the entire group would start walking forward again while Eve asked questions about how the attacks worked, and which skills each pokémon preferred.

Aside from the techniques that Eve had heard humans give names to, she really didn't know how to refer in human-speech to the attacks that the pokémon used. She was forced to refer to them as "that windy attack", "the attack where you drained energy from the other pokémon", etcetera. Despite the vagueness, however, the pokémon always knew exactly what she was talking about. Though Eve had always found it difficult to explain to other people, pokémon communication was much more instinctual than human speech. That was the reason why pokémon didn't really need to name something to know who or what another pokémon was talking about; they just knew.

When midday came around, Eve gave Basil and Hannah some pokéblocks that she had brought for the journey, while she helped herself to a modest no-cook meal. This was one more thing that she didn't exactly enjoy about being on the go; the food really didn't have much taste to it, nor was it very substantial. Thankfully, the pokémon of the area were more than willing to spare a couple of berries for the trio of travelers, which gave more flavor and variety to their meal.

The sun was already beginning to set when Eve said goodbye to the wild pokémon and finally entered Violet City. Though the day had gone fast thanks to her efforts to learn, she was still very glad to be nearing their destination.

As they started reaching the outskirts of town, Eve said, "Once we're in the main part of town, I doubt I'll be able to have you two outside of pokéballs… At least, I'm pretty sure Violet City has leash laws, and I certainly don't have any leashes with me."

~Well, that's fine,~ Hannah said. ~Though it's been nice to be out as we travel, I'm used to being in my pokéball. I suppose it can't be helped, if other humans are so picky about it.~

"Basil? Are you okay with it?" Eve asked, the concern obvious in her face.

Basil flicked his tail back and forth. ~I suppose there's a first time for everything. I don't see why I can't try it, at least. But Hannah, would you tell me what it's like first?~

~Wait, what? You haven't been in a pokéball yet? But I thought you were Eve's pokémon!~

Eve shrugged. "As far as it matters, he is. I mean, I've been with him almost nonstop since he hatched. But he's never really needed a pokéball before."

~So what's it like?~ Basil asked again.

~Well,~ Hannah said, still recovering from her surprise. ~It's like sleeping really, really deeply, I guess. You're not really comfortable or uncomfortable or anything like that, because you don't really think about it. And you're always dimly aware of your surroundings. You don't really know what's going on outside, and yet you know what to be ready for as soon as you're released from the pokéball. And even if you're in there for hours and hours, it never feels like any time has passed.~ Then, as an afterthought, she added, ~Though even if you don't realize time has passed, you _will_ be hungry when you come out, if you haven't eaten in a while.~

~That doesn't sound too bad. Let's go ahead and try it then, Eve,~ Basil said.

Eve rummaged through her bag and pulled out one of the small, ping-pong ball sized pokéballs. "Okay, here goes nothing." Eve tapped the opening mechanism to Basil's forehead. His entire body glowed red for a moment, and then in another moment he disappeared into the pokéball. Eve looked at the red and white sphere for a couple of seconds, and then continued to walk towards town.

~Oh, hey! What about me?~ Hannah asked.

Eve shrugged, still looking intently at the pokéball. "I'm just waiting a few minutes, then letting Basil back out. Once I'm sure he's okay with this, then I'll return both of you to your pokeballs until I get a chance to let you out again."

When two or three minutes had passed, Eve pressed the button to enlarge and open the pokéball. "So how was it?" she asked anxiously as the pichu reappeared.

~Fine,~ Basil said, giving himself a shake. ~How long was I in there?~

"A couple minutes."

~Really? Hannah was right, I really can't tell that any time went by. It's sort of like I just blinked,~ Basil said. ~Anyway, you don't need to worry about it. I'll be perfectly fine. I guess I'll see you in a bit!~ And with that, he touched the button of the pokéball with his tail, sending himself back into the sphere.

With a wondering look on her face, Eve put Basil's pokéball away and took out Hannah's. "Well, I guess I'm off to find my dorm now. Wish me luck, Hannah."

As soon as the chikorita was back in her pokéball, Eve paused for a few seconds. "You know," she said to herself, slightly troubled, "It sure is a lot quieter without any pokémon around." Then, brightening, she continued, "But maybe I'll meet someone interesting here. After all, people can be a whole lot more entertaining than pokémon, sometimes. Even if they're more difficult to understand." She sighed, then got out her city map and continued on, both anxious and excited about what was to come.

* * *

Okay, sorry if it was sort of a slow chapter. I was trying to get some characterization down, as well as detail Eve's ability (or lack of it) for battling and training. Also, sorry if a couple of those battle paragraphs got confusing at all... I had three people/pokémon that could be referred to as 'she' (the snubbul, Hannah, and Eve), so I'm afraid it might have gotten confusing. I normally try not to call a pokémon 'it' in a fanfic like this, but in the future, I may start doing that. You have been warned.

Also, this came out in less than a week, as you may have noticed. I did this partly because a friend of mine wanted to read more, and partly because I want to get some more exposure here in while I'm still early in the story. There will still be another chapter coming out on thursday, and I WILL go to only every Thursday after that. So yeah. Please review if you like the story, or even if you don't like it!


	3. The First Day of School

**Chapter Three: First Day of School**

"Okay, everyone, let's quiet down now!" the man at the front of the classroom shouted. Eve found it hard to believe that this was her teacher; after all, he didn't look a day over twenty-five with his rich brown hair, bright brown eyes and fashionable glasses. Only his authoritative demeanor and professional clothing led Eve to suspect that he was any different from the numerous other adults and young adults sitting around the classroom.

There were four other people at the front of the room with the presumed teacher: two middle-aged men, one woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, and a boy who seemed close to Eve's age. The two older men looked to be more teacher-like, yet it was the young man who had first spoken who remained at the center of the room. Teacher-like or not, it was this man who obviously had the most commanding position in the classroom.

Once all the conversations had died down, that brown-haired man continued, "Let me be the first to welcome you all to Earl's Pokémon Academy!" A couple of sarcastic cheers rose from the back of the large classroom. The man glared at the troublemakers, then continued, "I am Mr. Terruf, and I'll be your teacher for the remainder of this month-long course. Now, just in case some of you didn't read the course summary, or perhaps in case there are those here who can't read at all-" he paused meaningfully and eyed the troublemakers "-then let me give you some idea of what we will be learning here.

"This class will cover the basics of pokémon raising, training, care, and battle. During our first week, we will memorize all known pokémon, their types, and their battling tendencies. In our second week, we will learn how to care for pokémon, what items are beneficial for your pokémon both in and out of battle, and how to tell the difference between a serious injury and a not-so-serious wound. The last two weeks of classes will focus yet again on battling, this time with more actual practice on the battlefield. Interspersed throughout will be lessons on pokémon ethics, for the purpose of challenging all of you to think for once in your pathetic lives. Were your tiny brains able to handle that brief description?"

No one responded.

The man smiled kindly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I take that as a no. But no matter; by the time I'm through with you, you shall either be approaching my level of brilliance or you will be puddles of mush on the pathway towards enlightenment. The only cost for this incredible opportunity is your soul, which you have obviously paid with in advance."

Eve couldn't hold it back any longer; a giggle escaped her. Mr. Terruf snapped his head towards her. His face turned serious, and to anyone else, he must have seemed truly upset. Eve, however, knew better. She could tell that he was still just about as serious as a trouble-making misdreavus. "Young lady in the third row with the ridiculously bright red hair," Mr. Terruf said accusingly. "Do you believe that you are near enough to my resplendent superiority that you can _laugh_ at my introductory lecture?"

Feigning equal seriousness, Eve replied, "No, sir. Not at all, sir." Then, struggling to think of something to keep the entertaining mood going, she said, "I'm simply so… so… honored to have a teacher with such, um, stunning intellect as yourself that I can't contain my enthusiasm." The whole class chuckled and Eve blushed faintly, surprised at herself. Even mild sarcastic humor was normally beyond her ability. _I must've gotten caught up in the moment_, she thought to herself without regret.

Mr. Terruf looked at Eve appraisingly, no longer able to suppress a grin of his own. "Very good, very good. You'll make for an excellent evil minion when I take over the world. Maybe some of my enviable self-control will also rub off on you, so that your misplaced giggling might not interfere with my lectures again."

Up until now, the four people at the front of the room with Mr. Terruf had all remained silent. Now, the youngest of those four suddenly spoke up. "Perhaps the young lady will also have your stupendous humility by the time the month is up, Mr. Terruf." The boy was only a teenager, causing Eve to wonder once again what such a young kid would be doing up at the front of the classroom. She guessed that maybe the four of them were teacher's aids, though that still didn't explain why a teenager would be in such a position.

"Young Mr. Katsu, you are simply jealous that young Miss…?" Mr. Terruf looked up at Eve questioningly.

"I'm Eve. Eve Addamson."

"As I was saying, Mr. Katsu, you must be jealous that a rookie like Miss Addamson is obviously much smarter than you are after your three years of pokémon-specialized high school." _So that confirms his age… either seventeen or eighteen, probably. Unless he was held back a grade, though I kind of doubt that. _Before the boy could make a comeback, Mr. Terruf continued, "However! I thank you for speaking up, for it brings me to the next section of my lecture before class can officially start. Students, my associates here," he gestured to the four others that stood behind him at the front of the room, "are all here to 'help me help you', you might say. In just a few minutes, all of you will be divided into groups, and each group will be led by one of these fine fellows up here. They will take you outside to one of our four battlefields and assess your pitiable battle skills. In fact, I don't see why I should prolong your torture any longer… Why don't we head out now?"

::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve was the last of ten to be called for Mr. Katsu's group. And though it felt weird to call a teenager 'Mr.', she was still glad to be a part of his group. Not only did he seem less intimidating than the other four teacher's aids, but he was also assigned to the easiest area for combat: a flat sand battlefield.

As Eve waited while the nine students preceding her took their turns, she found herself examining 'Mr.' Katsu more than the battles themselves. He was probably about 5' 6" or so, and that combined with the unruly blond hair that hung in his eyes made him look older than Eve's guess of seventeen years. He was dressed very casually in sandals, Bermuda shorts, and a graphic tee with a feraligatr on it. All told, he looked _much_ more like he should have been a student here, rather than a teacher.

When it came to battling, however, it was clear why he was an assistant in the class. Even after nine battles, he'd still only used two pokémon: a totodile and a grass pokémon that Eve had never seen that he called tsutaja. Both of them were miles above the strength of any of the students' pokémon. Katsu, for his part, seemed confident but not cocky; Eve got the feeling that if he needed to, he'd be capable of using some pretty effective strategies. Not that he needed to with this bunch. No one in Eve's group had any more than three pokémon, and the pokémon that they did have were pathetically weak in comparison to Mr. Katsu's pokémon.

_This must be what three years of actual schooling here at the academy can do._

"Okay, Eve Addamson is next!" Mr. Katsu shouted as he looked at his clipboard, snapping Eve out of her thoughts. Nervously, she took her place at the opposite side of the field, her two pokéballs in her hand. _At least we're only using a small portion of the battlefield,_ Eve thought to herself, noticing that Mr. Katsu was barely twenty feet away from her. _If we were much farther apart, I'm not sure if my pokémon would be able to hear my commands._ She released Basil first, hoping that his speed might give her an edge.

Mr. Katsu made a note on his clipboard. "Eve, you can take the first move," he said.

"Oh, um…" she looked from Mr. Katsu to his totodile, suddenly feeling quite unsure if she really wanted to do this.

~Is something wrong?~ Basil asked, anxiously waiting for Eve's commands.

"Is something the matter?" Mr. Katsu asked, unknowingly echoing the question. "Are you feeling well?"

Eve looked at the ground, and kicked some of the sand around her feet. "Well… It's just that I've never actually battled another trainer before. I've battled in self defense against wild pokémon, but... I'm just not sure if I can purposely attack someone who hasn't hurt me first."

Amused murmuring erupted from the students at the sidelines, and Eve felt her face turn red enough to match her hair.

"That could be a problem," Mr. Katsu said good-naturedly. "Would it help if I took the first move?"

~You know, Miss,~ the totodile said, looking sort of embarrassed that he was in this situation. ~I love to battle. I don't know a pokémon who doesn't. Just think of it as a game that every pokémon can agree on. We instinctually battle, almost from the moment we hatch.~

Basil ran around in a small circle, trying to show his enthusiasm. ~Yeah, that's true! I'm pretty sure I started battling my brothers the same day I hatched. And I've never met someone who doesn't like to battle, either.~

"Really?" asked Eve, looking back and forth from the totodile to Basil.

The totodile shot a little water playfully into the air. ~Yes, definitely.~

Eve looked back up to Mr. Katsu, now feeling more confident about the battle. Mr. Katsu, however, looked confused. "Were you just…?" He didn't finish the question, as if it was too crazy to say in its entirety.

Eve blushed again. "Sorry. I kinda forgot to mention it, but I can talk with pokémon." Then, to forestall the skepticism and questions that she was sure would follow, she said, "But let's not worry about it now, because I'm okay to battle now! Basil, use thundershock!"

Neither Mr. Katsu nor his totodile were prepared for the attack, so it hit the water pokémon easily. The totodile cried out in pain, though he didn't appear to be very damaged by the attack.

Mr. Katsu immediately got his mind back on the battle. "Totodile, use water gun!"

"Get out of the way!" Eve shouted. The pichu dodged, but still received a glancing blow as the water shot past him. Eve looked at him worriedly, knowing that the strong attack had delivered some damage despite the indirect hit. "You okay for a physical attack?"

~Yeah, I'm fine~ Basil assured her.

"Okay, then use tackle!" Eve commanded. Basil darted forward towards the totodile, head lowered.

"Take the hit, then use scratch," Mr. Katsu said, barely finished the order before the pichu landed its hit. The larger totodile was hardly even pushed backwards by the impact, whereas his following scratch attack knocked Basil almost back to Eve's feet.

Basil got up again, though he was trembling slightly this time. Before Eve could ask if he was okay, Mr. Katsu said, "That's enough for that pokémon. I only needed to see what it could do, after all. Could you send out your next pokémon, please?"

Eve was torn; it didn't feel right, sealing Basil back up in his pokéball right after he had battled. Still, she didn't see what else she could do. "Thanks," she said as Basil disappeared into his pokéball. Then she pulled out her other pokéball, calling forth Hannah.

~Awesome! An actual battle!~ Hannah said, completely stoked.

Katsu looked at Hannah and whistled appreciatively. "Where'd you ever get a chikorita with a purple leaf? I've got a brother who breeds pokémon, and I know he'd pay a ton to get his hands on something like that. But anyway, now's not the time for that. This time I'll take the first move. Totodile, use scratch!"

Eve looked and thought frantically of what to tell Hannah to do, but she soon realized that something was wrong. The totodile's movements before now had been filled with lithe strength. Now, it was almost completely static, despite the order from its trainer.

"Well what do you know!" Mr. Katsu said happily. "Your pichu actually managed to paralyze my totodile! Well, I'll just have to get out my other pokémon, then." He laughed as if amused that he was actually being forced to switch pokémon, causing Eve to scowl.

_How can he be laughing when his pokémon is hurt?_

He recalled the totodile, then released his tsutaja. "I'll make the first move this time!" Mr. Katsu said. "Tsutaja, use tackle!" the grass pokémon ran forward, its body arching through the air almost like a rubber bouncy ball.

"Um, use your vines to try and trip it!" Eve shouted out. Hannah's three vines snaked out through the air and reached forward as she attempted to stop the attack. The tsutaja managed to slip between the vines, landing a solid tackle attack right in the chikorita's face.

~Can I use a razorleaf attack?~ Hannah pleaded, shaking her head as she recovered from the attack.

"Oh, sure. Razorleaf!" Eve said.

Mr. Katsu looked unconcerned. "Tsutaja, lay yourself flat against the ground." The grass pokémon's thin body went almost flush with the ground, causing most of the leaves to miss their target. The few that did hit seemed to do next to no damage. As soon as the barrage of leaves ended, Mr. Katsu took up the offensive again. "Tsutaja, use tackle once more."

Desperately, Eve commanded the only other attack she could think of. "Poison powder!"

This time, the tsutaja couldn't dodge. Though his tackle landed unhindered, he did get a face full of poison in the process. The effects showed themselves almost immediately; though he managed to remain standing, his stance became noticeably wobbly. Hannah, for her part, looked close to fainting.

Mr. Katsu laughed again as he recalled his grass pokémon, making Eve scowl once again. "Whether you knew it or not, that was actually a pretty good strategy," Mr. Katsu said to both Eve and the class, oblivious to Eve's upset glare. "When you don't have the raw power to take on your opponents, afflict them with status problems. Everyone would do well to remember it. Anyway, let's head back inside; we've got nurses to treat the worst of your pokémon's injuries."

Eve put Hannah back in her pokéball, glad that her pokémon would get treated but still unhappy about Mr. Katsu's behavior. _He'd seemed nice… Yet he completely disregards his own pokémon's health. _Eve sighed. _Humans. Even if I'm one of them, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to understand most of them. _

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Even in a supposedly mature class ranging from teens to adults, gossip got around quickly. By lunchtime, everyone knew about Eve's initial refusal to battle, as well as her claim that she could talk to pokémon. As of day one of school, Eve was officially the crazy girl on campus.

Thankfully for her, she was so busy taking notes for Hannah that she barely noticed the whispers around her. By the time the school day ended, Eve's hand was tired and cramped, but she was strangely satisfied. Even with all the hurtful comments that she knew were going around, she was glad she'd come to the school. _And I'm certain everyone was going to find out about my 'ability' sooner or later, anyway. In classes about pokémon, there's no way I could keep it secret for long._

Eve headed straight to her dorm after class was over, hoping to avoid causing a commotion. People would undoubtedly try to get her to talk to a pokémon, whether out of curiosity or as more fuel for taunting. Unfortunately for her, things could never be that easy.

"Hey! Wait up!" Eve stopped and turned her head to see Mr. Katsu jogging to catch up with her. Eve frowned; perhaps she could forgive him for his callousness towards his pokémon, but she wasn't about to forget it.

"Did you need something, Mr. Katsu?" Eve asked tersely.

Mr. Katsu shook his head. "No, not really. And just call me Katsu." Seeing her confusion, he added, "It's actually my first name. Mr. Terruf just likes to call me 'Mr.' to mess with me. But I mean, I'm only seventeen. Being called Mr. _anything _is weird enough."

Eve tilted her head slightly. "So if you don't need anything, then why come over here?"

"Well, you probably get this all the time, but…" Katsu rubbed the back of his neck, obvious unsure how to continue. "It's just that I'm kinda skeptical about you being able to talk to pokémon. If you could prove it to me, then I'd be more than willing to quiet down all the comments of the rest of the class."

Eve sighed. "I do get it all the time, though I really don't mind. I'll prove it to you, but only because you asked, _not_ because I need your protection." Eve glanced back at the groups of students milling about at the exit of the school. "People will say mean things sometimes; I just try not to let it bother me. So what can I do to convince you that I'm not the nut that everyone thinks I am?"

"I've actually been thinking about that," Katsu said as he pulled a pokéball from the belt around his waist. He pressed the opening mechanism, and his totodile appeared. "Me 'n my totodile were training in the woods the other day, and we met a pretty rare pokémon. Totodile knows what I'm talking about. If he tells you, and you tell me, then I'll know that you were telling the truth."

Eve gladly turned her attention away from Katsu and onto the totodile. "Hi, Totodile. Sorry I had to battle you earlier. I hope the paralysis wasn't too bad."

~Ah, don't worry about it, Miss,~ Totodile replied. ~Paralysis is weird, but it doesn't hurt, at least. So what is it that my Katsu wants me to do?~

"He wants me to prove that I can actually understand what you're saying," Eve said, rolling her eyes as if it was the silliest request ever. "So he was wondering if you could tell me about a rare pokémon you met in the woods the other day."

Totodile blinked. ~Oh, he must mean the big thing we met,~ Eve didn't immediately get the connection, though she would have if she'd seen such a pokémon before. So the Totodile went into detail about it. ~It was huge, and fat, and it slept through _all_ of my attacks. Even my ice fang.~

"Okay, that should be good. Thanks Totodile!" Eve said.

~Don't mention it, Miss,~ the Totodile said. ~And as far as battling goes, I really meant what I said earlier. Pokémon really love to battle. If you hesitate as a trainer, all you'll do is let your own pokémon down.~

Eve smiled thankfully. "I'll keep that in mind in the future. And thanks for encouraging me today; I might've made an even bigger fool of myself without you." Eve straightened up and looked at Katsu. "He says that you ran into a big, fat pokémon that slept a lot. He even used an ice fang attack, but it didn't do anything."

Katsu's jaw practically dropped as he recalled Totodile. "Snorlax, that's what the pokémon is called. Wow, so it's true. You really can talk to pokémon. That's pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself."

"Glad I could get things sorted out. Now if you'll excuse me," Eve said, starting to walk off.

"Wait, wait! Don't leave yet!" Katsu said, catching back up with her. "What's with the cold shoulder? Are you angry that I beat you in battle today?"

"That's not it at all! I just can't believe that you laughed when your own pokémon got hurt today," Eve said, not even trying to broach the subject gracefully.

Katsu unconsciously took a step back. "It's not like I was laughing at their pain or anything," he said defensively. "But rookie trainers can hardly ever do a thing to my pokémon, so it was amusing that you managed to inflict both of them with status conditions."

"It doesn't matter what you were laughing at," Eve said. "You didn't even care when you're pokémon got hurt. Even if you have a pokémon nurse within shouting distance, that's still cruel."

"What, do you think pokémon are like people or something?" Katsu asked incredulously. "I mean, come on, they're _pokémon. _They're practically born to get hurt."

Eve's annoyance drained away, to be replaced by sadness and disappointment. "You know, when I was a kid, I couldn't even tell the difference between people and pokémon until about age six. I mean, I can _talk_ with them. And though they can be a lot scarier than humans when they are angry, they are also a lot nicer than humans when they're happy. It's not like I hate you because you can't see that; a lot of people can't see it. Society itself can't even see it. But still… it makes me sad if you won't even try to see the truth."

Katsu cooled down a little, seeming perhaps just a little ashamed with himself. "Well, I'm sorry if I upset you," he said sincerely. Then cheering up, he said, "How about this: to make it up to you, I'll show you around town a little bit. I mean, you aren't from around here, are you?" Eve shook her head. "That's great! I can show you Sprout Tower, and the Ruins of Alph are just west of town. If we take the bus, we could easily go visit and come back within a couple of hours."

Eve smiled, charmed by the offer in spite of herself. "I'd really love to, but I can't right now," she said. "I'm going to be working at the pokémon center every day after school, starting today. And I've got homework to start on for tomorrow after that."

"Woah, hold up for a second. You mean you just got here, and Dr. Means actually gave you a job? _The_Dr. Catherine Means, who only gives even the grunt work to well-qualified people?"

"I guess so," Eve said. "That's who I talked to, at least. I've worked at the pokémon center in Cherrygrove City for years, and so when the head doctor there heard I was going to be staying here for a month, she said she'd call ahead and set up a job for me, if I wanted it."

Katsu shrugged. "Well, I guess it can't be helped, if you've got a job. Dr. Means is one boss that you wouldn't want to get angry… And I'd been hoping all day that I could take you out somewhere, too."

Eve completely missed the implications of this last comment, though she redeemed herself slightly by coming up with an idea. "Even if I can't go anytime during the week, would you like to maybe show me around on Saturday? I'm not going to be working at all on the weekends, and I'd really like to go see those places you were talking about."

"That sounds great," Katsu said, brightening up again. "I mean, I was supposed to babysit my little siblings that day, but I'll work out something else. Nine in the morning sound good? That'll give us plenty of time to see the sights during the day."

"Okay with me," Eve confirmed. "But even as much as I want to go… You've got to promise me one more thing."

"What?"

"At least _try_ to see your pokémon as more than just weapons for battling. Please?"

Katsu grinned. "It if means I get to take you out for a day on the town, then it's a deal."

Still completely missing Katsu's casual flirting, Eve took out her cell phone to look at the time. "Oh, darn, I'm gonna be late! And on my first day, too! I'm sorry, Katsu, I've got to go – I'll see you tomorrow!" She shouted to him, already running towards the dorms to drop off her school stuff.

After a flurried hurry of getting herself ready, Eve practically ran the mile down the road to the pokémon center. Somehow, she managed to get there on time. Barely.

"Oh, you're Eve, right?" the receptionist asked upon Eve's arrival, ignoring her semi-breathless state. "Dr. Means wanted your help with a couple of our newest patients. She's in client room number three right now, I believe."

Eve paused for a few moments to catch her breath, then replied, "Thanks."

Eve then headed beyond the reception counter and into the client rooms. She knocked quietly on the third room, hoping that this Dr. Means wasn't in the middle of something really important.

"Yes?" a feminine voice asked from inside.

Eve opened the door partially and looked in. A young girl and her parents were sitting in the chairs at one side of the room; Dr. Means was examining a whimpering poochyena at the other side. She turned her head away from her work as Eve entered. "Oh, excellent," she said when she saw who it was. "Now I'll get to see if my colleague in Cherrygrove was telling the truth about how good you are. You see, this poochyena has been extremely lethargic lately, and he won't even eat anything. He doesn't seem to be sick. And while I normally would have expected that the poochyena had maybe swallowed something he shouldn't have, the X-rays turn up nothing of the sort. Could you ask the poor pup what's troubling him?"

Eve nodded, glad to be somewhere where her skills could be put to use. While Dr. Means explained to the family who Eve was, Eve approached the poochyena and rubbed the fur around his neck a little. "So what's up, little guy?" Eve asked. "Why aren't you feeling well? Does your stomach feel bad, perhaps?"

The poochyena didn't acknowledge her at first. He seemed so sad; his ears were drooping, his tail was completely limp, and he wouldn't even lift up his head to look at Eve as she scratched his side. ~It's not that,~ the poochyena said eventually. ~One of the teeth in my upper jaw just hurts badly. Which means I can't bite things, and that makes me really sad.~

"Oh, I see," Eve said. "Poochyena like you certainly like to bite things, don't you? Did you maybe bite off more than you could chew?"

The poochyena moved his tail glumly. "Yeah. I tried chewing on something metal that my humans had around the house."

"Could you open your mouth and tell me exactly which tooth it is? I'll make sure that we make everything better."

~The farthest back on the right in the top,~ the poochyena replied, complying listlessly.

Eve got Dr. Means to give her a small flashlight, and she quickly found the tooth in question. "Okay, here's the problem," Eve announced. "One of his teeth has actually fractured, all the way down to the root. It's very hard to see… Without him telling me, I never would have noticed it. A poochyena that can't bite normally can become very depressed. As owners, you three will need to make sure that he can't get his mouth around anything metal."

"Well I'll be darned, you're right, Eve," Dr. Means said, taking a look herself. "In that case, a simple tooth extraction is in order. After a couple days of pain, a new tooth should start growing in and he'll be back to normal before you know it." Dr. Means stood up and, ignoring the poochyena's owners for a few moments, she turned to Eve. "I think we're going to get along famously. I've got a couple of more problem patients to look in on after I get all this taken care of… Would you wait outside until then? And after that, I've got some general, more basic pokémon care that you can help with. You can handle that, right?"

"Yeah, I had a lot of experience with small stuff like that back at Cherrygrove," Eve said. "And I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can."

* * *

Bonus points to anyone who can find the hidden reference to a certain pokemon in this chapter! I'll give you a hint... It's 2nd generation.

Other random thing that might interest you: I have a link to a pic of Eve on my profile, under the section for this Language of Life fanfic. Just if you're interested. It's not great, and I'm no artist, but if you want a more concrete image of what she looks like rather than just your imagination... Then there you go.

Oh, and I hope you haven't been too bored by these first three chapters. I assure you, the action finally starts picking up in the next chapter. Please review, because I really do like to hear what everyone thinks!

EDIT: In this little ending author's note, I originally noted something about the rating of the story... I had changed the rating from T to M, but now I changed it back again... So I have deleted what was previously written here. The only reason I'd changed it in the first place was in anticipation of a later chapter (11, I think), but now I've decided one chapter with questionable content wasn't enough to really qualify it as an M. I will, however, warn everyone at the beginning of the aforementioned chapter, should they not wish to possibly get close to reading something M rated. So... Yeah.


	4. Falling to Ruins

**Chapter Four: Falling to Ruins**

"This is the most direct way to get to Sprout Tower," Katsu said as he walked with Eve along the bank of Bellsprout Lake. "Do you see that bridge over there?"

Eve squinted and was just barely able to make out a faint line suspended over the lake. "Yeah, I think. Does that go all the way over the lake?"

"Yes," Katsu said. "Well, first it connects to an island right in the center of the lake, and then it continues on to the other shore. The entrance to Sprout Tower is at that end of the bridge. The whole set up is supposed to show the beauty and harmony of life. The lake is the representation of water, which provides the energy for life to flourish. The Creed of Life – you know, the religious order that bases itself here – they call that energy 'chikara'. The forest that surrounds the tower represents life itself, which they call 'viva'. Together, it's the concept of 'chikara-viva', which is the center of their religious practices."

Eve watched as a goldeen swam along the surface of the lake, its dainty horn leaving a trail of ripples as it poked above the surface. "That's cool. I mean, I was never raised to any organized religion or anything, but I like the concept. And this entire area is beautiful. At the very least, I admire these Creed of Life people for keeping the lake and the forest around it in such pristine condition." As an afterthought, she added, "You certainly know a lot about this place."

"Actually, it's sort of the entire reason that my family lives here," Katsu admitted. "Both of my parents were born and raised in the Isshu region. But to be honest, both of them were hippies. And that doesn't work out well in a region that's as heavily industrialized as Isshu. So after they got married, the moved here because of the whole nature theme of the Creed of Life religion." Grinning sheepishly, he added, "It's also the reason why I've got such a strange name. It's one of the few words of unown-script language that researchers have been able to translate. My full first name, Seikatsu, means 'life' in that language. Kinda silly, I know."

"No, that's not silly. It sounds cool," Eve said as they took their first steps onto the long wooden bridge. "Now, _my_ name is silly. My dad actually wanted to call me 'Evelyn' but my mom at least had the foresight to shorten it to Eve. It sounds so archaic to me, but then again, I guess it doesn't matter too much. Archaic or not, it's who I am. So, is that why you have Tsutaja? I heard from one of the other students that it was one of the starters of the Isshu region."

"Yeah, though not because I got it as my starter. I live here, so my totodile was my actual starter. My grandparents in Isshu got me the tsutaja as a gift." Katsu said, ruffling his already messy blond hair. Then, looking down at the wooden planks below him as if only just realizing where they were, he said, "Anyway, now that we're on the bridge, we're technically on property owned by the Order of Life, and they encourage people to let out their pokémon. That is, as long as the pokémon aren't fire-types." Katsu grabbed his own two pokéballs from his belt and let out his pokémon. Totodile and Tsutaja both acted like this was a routine. Totodile immediately jumped into the water, obviously thrilled to be let out of his pokéball. Tsutaja jumped in as well, snaking through the water like an ekans as he used his leafy tail for a rudder.

Eve was more than happy to let out her own pokémon. Basil immediately jumped up to Eve's shoulder, where as Hannah seemed content with her position on the ground.

Or, perhaps not _exactly_ content. ~Why aren't we doing some more training?~ the chikorita complained.

"Oh, do hush," Eve said. "We'll train all tomorrow, if it'll make you happy. But today, we're going to be seeing the sights. See that big building up there? That's Sprout Tower. People there practically _worship_ grass-type pokémon like yourself, so you ought to be happy."

Hannah didn't reply, though she did seem at least slightly consoled by this statement. Eve looked back up and noticed that Katsu was staring.

Katsu realized that he was being rude, and apologized. "Sorry, I guess I'm still not used to being around someone who can talk to pokémon."

"That's okay. So if your parents are so into this 'Order of Life' religion, why aren't you?"

"Who says I'm not?" Katsu retorted, slightly defensive.

"Are you?" Eve asked, surprised.

Katsu nodded. "That's why I have a grass and a water pokémon; I'm actually planning on specializing in those two types, since they're so central to the Order of Life. What made you think I wasn't?"

"How you battled the other day made me doubt that you had all that much consideration for life," Eve replied bluntly.

"That's different," Katsu argued. "That was a battle. Pokémon are _supposed_ to get hurt."

"Didn't you even consider what I talked to you about on Monday? I was hoping that you would have at least _thought _about caring for your pokémon more." Eve said, clearly crestfallen.

Katsu hesitated. "I did, but… Well, what I'm trying to say is, what does it even matter? It seems to me like such a waste of time to try to consider 'what if pokémon are like humans' and all that theoretical mumbo-jumbo. It's not like I'm evil and hurting my pokémon on purpose, and both me and my pokémon are happy with life. So what's the point in thinking about those kind of things?"

Eve's brows knitted together gloomily. "But it's _not _theoretical mumbo-jumbo. I can talk to them, Katsu. I _know_ that they are like humans, even if they don't think or act in exactly the same way. Or do you still think that I was lying to you about being able to talk to them?"

"No, no! Not at all! I don't think you would lie intentionally," Katsu replied hastily.

"Intentionally? So you just think I'm mistaken about something, then?" Eve said.

"Well… Sort of, but I don't mean it in a bad way," Katsu said. "But since you've been talking to them for so long, I think that maybe your opinion is skewed too much in their favor. Even if they can communicate in a similar way to humans, they're still not human. They can't build things, they can't plan ahead in the same way that humans do, and pokémon that aren't under the guidance of humans can go out of control way too easily. Making pokémon battle and work for humans is just how the world works, even if it does mean that they get unnecessarily hurt sometimes. I can respect life and still acknowledge that fact."

Eve stopped in the center of the bridge, refusing to go a step farther. "So you're saying that you can respect life, even as you laugh when your own partners get hurt? And you think that the truth should be ignored just so people can just continue to live their lives as they always have, even if it's based upon the unneeded pain of pokémon?" She was on the verge of tears. She wasn't angry with him, just like she'd never been truly mad at him on Monday. Eve was simply very sad that he couldn't – or, rather, wouldn't – see the truth.

Basil rubbed up against her face comfortingly, and even Hannah moved closer to Eve, as if to someway defend her trainer from Katsu's comments.

"You're being completely ridiculous, and you're twisting my points. First of all…" he trailed off as he saw just how upset she was. Tourists were watching them curiously as they passed by the now immobile couple, making Katsu painfully aware that this was not the time or place to be getting into an argument. "Sheesh, now I feel like such a jerk," Katsu said. "In the Creed of Life, guys are supposed to be courteous to women. It's called chivalry. I won't be able to forgive myself if I make you cry, especially when I was the one who asked to show you around." He reached out and playfully took her hand, then started to pull her along towards the tower. "Let's just forget the little discussion for now, and hurry up to Sprout Tower. I think everyone will feel better once we get there. The pokémon certainly will, at least."

Eve rubbed the tears from her eyes with her free hand and reluctant followed. She didn't speak at all as they made their way down the nearly five mile long bridge. Katsu, to keep the situation from being awkward, continued to spout off information about Sprout Tower. Eve learned from him that it was built around the same time as the Ruins of Alph, and that it actually had a lot of unown-script carved into its central pillar. Most words in that language were still undecipherable, even though the letters used were the origins of the modern alphabet. Still, some meanings had managed to survive or had been rediscovered, such as Katsu's name and the word for flower that Eve had used to name Hannah.

Almost as soon as Katsu, Eve, and their four pokémon entered the building, the last remnants of Eve's unhappiness disappeared. As she looked around at the ornate woodcarvings in the walls and marveled at the swaying pillar at the center of the building, she felt inexplicably energized. It wasn't exactly happiness that filled her, per say, but she suddenly wanted to get up and get moving. She wanted not just to live, but to truly be _alive_. Even the now unbandaged wound on her arm felt almost as if it was healing even faster than it had in the past week. Eve looked around at all the tourists casually taking pictures and examining the carvings, and she wondered how they possibly could be ignoring the energy that was coursing through the building.

The pokémon, too, seemed to sense the change. Hannah was rhythmically waving her leaf back and forth, as if dancing to some unheard music. Eve could feel sparks flying from Basil's fur and into her skin, though she was much too excited to really care about the pricks of pain that this created. Even Katsu's two pokémon were acting energized.

~It feels just like a thunderstorm,~ Basil said excitedly. ~This place makes me feel all charged up, like whenever lightning forks across the sky.~

Katsu saw Eve's awed face and grinned. "You see? What did I tell you? Isn't this place cool? The architecture is really what amazes people… It's kinda crazy to think that a place this big has stood for hundreds of years, built around a pillar that visibly wobbles."

"I don't think you quite get just how amazing this place is, if you're talking about architecture," Eve said, not intending to be mean. "Maybe you've been here so much that you're just used to it… But do you really not feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"This force," Eve said. "If the people here worship life, then I think they've just about pinned down what it is. I mean, it literally feels like life energy is coursing through this place. And do excuse me if that sounds a bit corny. Can you really not feel it?"

Katsu shook his head. "Are you sure you're not just imagining things? Maybe I just hyped this place up so much that you only _think _you're feeling something."

~There he goes, questioning your judgment again,~ Basil said sarcastically, though he was still focused mainly on the energy.

~Want me to give him a little taste of my razor leaf?~ Hannah offered.

"No, that's a bad idea, Hannah. Even if Basil has a point." Eve turned back to Katsu. "I'm not imagining things. I think the wartortle that lived at the pond back home even told me about something like this once." Eve fingered her braid, hoping that the blue strands of hair might somehow help her to remember the conversation. "I think he said something about how there were certain people and pokémon and places that could actually channel the natural energies of existence. But pokémon are more attuned to that sort of thing than humans, who interpret things based on logic rather than intuition."

Katsu raised an eyebrow. "You met a wartortle? Out in the wild? That alone I find hard to believe. Had this supposed wartortle ever even been to a place like that allegedly funnels energy?"

A small spark arced out from Basil's body and into Katsu's arm. ~Whoops,~ Basil said mischievously as Katsu yelped slightly from the pain. ~Guess the energy in this place just is affecting me a bit too much.~

Eve flicked his ear lightly to show that she didn't approve, though she had to admit that she didn't appreciate how Katsu seemed inclined to disbelieve everything that she said. "If you need proof, just take a look at my hair. See that longer blue strand that I have braided in at the side? That's wartortle hair. The wartortle gave it to me before I left to come here. And as for your other question, he actually said that _I _was someone that he could feel energy coming from, albeit in a small way."

~Now that you mention it,~ Hannah said, ~This building _is_ sorta like a huge version of your presence. Though it's not exactly the same, even when you exclude the magnitude.~

~I second that statement,~ Basil said.

Katsu was still rubbing his arm. "Well, whatever you say. I _am _a human after all; you're the only human I've ever met that's mentioned being able to sense anything truly out of the ordinary. Anyway, let's go ahead and head up a couple floors. The top of this place has a great view."

Katsu led the way up the ladders that connected each floor and Eve followed behind, still enthralled by the atmosphere of this place. Katsu ended up recalling both of his pokémon, since it was difficult for them to climb the made-for-human ladders. Eve had to recall Hannah, though she let Basil stay on her shoulder.

"So who were all the guys dressed in robes that we saw on the way up here?" Eve asked once they were at the top floor, gazing out of the open gaps in the wall. These glassless windows ran along all sides of the top floor, making for an amazing view in all directions. From where they were now, Eve could even see Mt. Mortar in the far distance.

"They're just the monks," Katsu answered. "They take care of this place, hold ceremonies and celebrations in honor of the chikara-viva, and other such stuff. They also train bellsprout, since the central beam is supposedly made from the body of a 100 foot tall bellsprout. They usually welcome trainers to try and challenge them, though lately they've had to save their energy to deal with an infestation of gastly."

"Gastly? What are those?" Eve asked.

Katsu absentmindedly rubbed his nose as he continued to stare off into the distance. "They're a sort of ghost pokémon, made of gases. They also have the poison type, and the monks claim that the poison is draining the energy of the grass-types in the area. They only show themselves at night, though, so we don't have to worry about them now. It's actually not all that recent a phenomenon, I suppose; they've had the problem for a couple of years now. It's actually been getting better recently."

Eve was about to make a comment, but her stomach suddenly growled, making Katsu laugh. It was nearly one in the afternoon, and Eve hadn't eaten any lunch yet. Katsu grabbed her hand again, as he had back on the bridge. "Let's head back to town and grab something to eat," he suggested, pulling her towards the ladder to the next floor down. "Then we can catch a bus and head out to the Ruins of Alph."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Eh-hem," Eve cleared her throat comically as she began to read one of the plaques at the entrance to the ruins. "Let's see… 'The Ruins of Alph were constructed some fifteen hundred years ago by humans, and it is believe that both the species of pokémon called unown and the first widely used written language originated around this time, though it is unknown which came first. Interestingly, the Tanoby Ruins of the Sevii Islands and the Solaceon Ruins of the Sinnoh region were all created around this time. All three of these ancient places have unown-script, and rare sightings of unown have been recorded at all three as well."

Katsu laughed at the jokingly sophisticated tone Eve had used. "Let me try the next one," he said. "Okay, here goes: 'Despite the ongoing research of scientists, archeologists, and etymologists, very few words of the original language that used unown-script have been decoded. However, it is believed that the initial use of written language fifteen hundred years ago was the spark of the cultural and intellectual revolution in this time period. Great feats of architecture such as the Pokémon Tower of Kanto and the Sprout Tower just a few miles away from here began to be constructed soon after the first dated evidence of unown-script. Cities such as Ecruteak and Goldenrod began to grow exponentially as new developments in technology were made. The first modern pokéballs, originally created from apricorns, were also developed around this time.'"

Katsu grinned. "All jokes aside, it's actually pretty cool when you think about it. I mean, what if being able to write actually did all these things? Really makes you seriously consider the phrase, 'the pen is mightier than the sword,' huh?"

"I guess so," Eve said. "But what are we doing standing around out here? Let's go in and explore!"

Basil jumped off Eve's shoulder and joined Hannah on the ground. ~I'll race you there!~ he challenged the grass pokémon before darting off towards the nearest ruin.

~Hey! No fair! You've got a head start, and you know that you're faster than me!~ Hannah cried, running to catch up.

Eve laughed at them as she adjusted the straps on her hiking bag. Katsu, noticing the motion, said, "If you don't mind me asking, why do you have your entire traveling bag with you? Even if you left most of your stuff back at your dorm, that's got to be awkward to carry around."

"I couldn't just leave Basil and Hannah back at the dorm, could I?" Eve replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And despite their name, pokéballs really don't fit well inside my jeans pockets, even when shrunk to their smallest size."

"But don't you have something smaller to carry the pokéballs around in? A purse, perhaps? Or some other sort of accessory like that. I know that Rocket Corporation always has dozens of different kinds of pokéball-carrying devices in stock. That's where I got this belt," he said, gesturing down to the two pokéballs that were locked into place at his waist.

Eve shook her head. "No, I don't have anything like that. I've never really needed one before, though I can see the usefulness of something like that now." She readjusted the straps on her bag again.

~Eve! Are you coming?~ Basil shouted as he poked his head out of the rocky chamber he had entered.

"Yeah!" Eve said. "Come on, Katsu, let's go see the ruins!"

Though not nearly as visually impressive as Sprout Tower, Eve found herself almost equally amazed as she stepped into the first chamber. It was a fairly plain, twenty-by-twenty foot room, with only a lone stone pillar in the center to fill the empty shadows inside. Dim electric lights were strung along the ceiling, though it was obvious that whoever had installed them had gone out of his way to avoid damaging the chamber at all. Every inch of the walls and the pillar in the center, had strange, letter-like characters.

More importantly, Eve felt a force similar to that of Sprout Tower, though this one was much more subtle. Whereas the tower's focus had been life, Eve couldn't quite tell what the energy here was, either because it was too dilute or perhaps because the energy here didn't have a focus. Either way, she decided not to make a big deal about it. Aside from the fight at Sprout Tower, Eve was having a great time with Katsu, and she didn't want to spoil the mood again by bringing up something that he wouldn't acknowledge.

"So these are unown, huh?" Eve said, fingering the engravings on the wall.

"Yeah," Katsu confirmed. "That's apparently what they look like in real life, too, though no one has ever managed to get a decent photograph of one. They seem kinda creepy to me, with those wide-open eyes and no faces to go with them."

Eve giggled slightly, then offhandedly said, "I bet they're nice pokémon."

"What makes you say that?"

"Humans surely wouldn't have made a writing system based on them if they weren't nice, I should think," Eve replied. She then moved to the back of the room, squinting at the writing on the wall. "Galwch… Heibio… I lawr yma…"

"Gesundheit," Katsu said jokingly. "Are you trying to read the walls?"

Eve dropped her bag at the ground next to her feet, then leaned against the wall and slid down it until she was in a sitting position. It had already been a fairly long day, and she had to admit that carrying around that bag was annoyingly tiresome. "Yes, I tried to read it. But it's all gobbledygook to me."

"I'll try reading some over here. Maybe it'll make more sense." He moved to the opposite end of the room and chose a line of the inscriptions. Basil and Hannah walked over towards him and watched as he tried to decipher the words. Apparently, both of them were curious how reading worked. Not noticing the observers next to his feet, Katsu began reading out his chosen line. "Casglwch y pum pwerau… I'm not even sure if I'm pronouncing this correctly. Six consonants in a seven letter word definitely doesn't work out well. And 'y' isn't even one of the consonants."

Eve laughed, though she was cut short as a sudden tremor shook the ground. The lights in the room went out, and Eve heard Katsu cry out in surprise, though a sickening thunk ended his yell. Eve grimaced, guessing that he must have hit his head.

The quaking ended after only one or two seconds, and so Eve tried to stand, grateful that she'd been sitting down when it had started. However, as she tried to move, she felt the stone floor below her fracture and splinter slightly. Not at all sure if it would stay together if she attempted to stand, she sat back down and did her best to spread her weight out over the ground.

The room was now almost completely dark; due to the entrance's position on the south side of the chamber, little of the late-afternoon sun was able to make its way in.

~Eve! Are you okay?~ Basil called from across the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but don't come over here!" Eve said as she heard the cautious shuffle of Basil's tiny feet. "The ground doesn't feel too stable where I am. Katsu! Are you okay?"

~I think he's knocked out,~ Hannah said when Katsu offered no response. ~Just as the lights went off, I saw him hit his head against the wall as he fell.~

~What do you want us to do?~ Basil asked.

Eve thought for a moment. "Since I'm fine, I want one of you to stay with Katsu. I know you probably can't do much for him, but at least he'll have someone with him. Hannah, why don't you take that job. Basil, I want you to run out of here and get one of the scientists we saw on the way into the ruins. Or find anyone, I suppose. Do whatever you can to get them to come here. I'd do it myself, but it feels like it's hollow underneath this chamber, and I don't want to fall in."

Basil dashed off immediately, leaving Hannah and Eve the only two conscious beings in the room. ~What if you _do _fall in?~ Hannah asked, the fear in her voice evident.

"That's actually why I sent Basil away… I was afraid he'd panic if I fall in. If it does happen, then I want you, Hannah, to stay put and wait for help to arrive. Do not try to help me, and do not let either Katsu or Basil try to help me. It won't do us any good if everyone gets trapped in a hole with me. Besides, I'll be fine, I'm sure. Understand?" Eve was trying to keep her voice calm, though she knew that faking her tone wouldn't be able to fool Hannah. Or any other pokémon, for that matter. Emotions were a lot more obvious to pokémon than they were to humans.

~Y-yeah, I understand,~ Hannah said.

"Good," Eve said. "Now, I'm going to try to crawl slowly over there to you. Hopefully, the floor won't give out as long as I-" Eve was interrupted as another tremor shook the chamber and a loud cracking noise came from beneath her. Panicking, Eve tried to stand up and throw herself away from the unstable ground, but it was no good. The stone floor was already crumbling beneath her, and Eve found herself falling downwards into complete darkness. Even knowing that it would worry Hannah even more, Eve couldn't help it:

She screamed.

* * *

Finally, the first really interesting chapter! Or, at the very least, the first chapter with major action in it. ^_^ And yay for cliffhangers!

Sorry again for that whole business with chapter three... I still feel really, really bad about it, even though I'm pretty sure no one cares all that much. Then again, I suppose me getting this chapter out wasn't that big of a deal for me... I'm about seven and a half chapters ahead of what's published here, even after getting this fourth chapter out. Hopefully I'll keep on getting ahead before school starts in about a week, so that I don't have to freak about meeting my weekly quota later in the year when I'm swamped with work.

Once again, I encourage you to review! I'd love to hear what you think of the fanfic so far!


	5. An Unown Message

**Chapter Five: An Unown Message**

Eve stopped screaming when an odd sensation came over her body, accompanied by a dramatic change in her downward speed. No longer did she feel like she was plummeting to her death; it now seemed more like she was floating. Her movement through the air was now so gradual that Eve wasn't even sure if she still was moving, though she still had the feeling that she was falling, albeit _much_ more slowly than before.

After what seemed like a couple of minutes, Eve felt her feet touch down on a floor of some sort. She quickly found her balance, and the mysterious power that had been carrying her disappeared. With her feet back on the ground, Eve found it easier to concentrate on more important things like breathing; the air down here was thick and stale, and it seemed to Eve as if she wasn't getting enough oxygen. She started to panic again, scared by both the darkness and the possibility of suffocation.

"Hello!" she shouted upwards, hoping that Basil had managed to retrieve someone who could help. "Is anyone up there? Please respond if you are!" Her voice echoed loudly in the cavern, making Eve guess that it was rather large. Certainly, she knew it was tall. She hadn't hit the ground in her first few seconds of free fall; that alone had to make it at least a couple stories deep.

There was no response to her cry for help, and Eve felt tears start to trickle down her face. _Maybe setting out on a journey wasn't the best idea I've ever had_. _Not if this is what happens barely three weeks in._

Almost as soon as she'd finished the thought, she heard Katsu's voice above her. "Eve! Are you down there!"

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. Even if she wasn't out of the hole yet, it was extremely comforting to hear a familiar voice. "Katsu! Yeah, I'm here, and I'm somehow uninjured! Are you okay!"

"Just a little bump on the head! My mind's still a little fuzzy, but I'll deal with it! Can you see any way out down there?"

"No! It's completely dark!" Eve said.

"Wait just one moment," Katsu said. "It looks like someone who can help is here!" Eve waited for a couple moments as Katsu and the newcomer apparently conversed.

Just as Eve was about to call upwards and make sure that everything was okay, a light flashed above her head. She looked up at it hopefully, despite the fact that it was barely a pinprick of brightness in her vision. "Can you see the light, Eve?" Katsu asked.

"Yeah, but it's really far above my head," Eve shouted sadly as a couple more tears forced themselves out of her eyes. "I don't know how I'm possibly going to get out."

"Don't worry young lady!" An unfamiliar male voice called out from above. "I've got an escape rope with me! I'll tie the flashlight to one end and lower it down to you, and then we can hopefully pull you out!"

Eve didn't exactly like the thought of being suspended way above the floor of this huge cavern again, but she saw that she didn't really have a choice. "Okay! I'll just wait for it down here, then!"

The light disappeared for a couple seconds, then reappeared and got larger as it was lowered downwards. The flashlight seemed to be tied around its center, so the light's beam fell across the walls of the cavern as it approached. From this, Eve was able to tell that the room was very long and narrow, almost like a massive hallway. The walls were almost completely vertical, and they were covered with something that Eve couldn't quite make out. She guessed that they were more unown runes.

Then Eve screamed out in surprise as she saw something pass through the beam of light. It had moved too quickly for Eve to tell what it was, but she didn't like the idea of being down in a dark, dark cavern with something that might be not so friendly.

"Eve! Are you all right? Did something happen?" Katsu called.

"S-something's down here. It just flashed across the light. There it goes again!" Eve exclaimed as the same creature darted through the beam.

Eve heard a noise about twenty feet or so above her head, and she saw the beam of light suddenly begin to rush downward. She just barely managed to shuffle out of the way to avoid the flashlight; it crashed right where Eve had been standing moments before.

"Oh! Miss, are you okay? I think the flashlight slipped out of the knot."

Eve stumbled over to where the flashlight had broken on the ground, and she somehow managed to find some of the pieces in the dark. "I don't think it slipped! The rope was cut by something!" she said, feeling the frayed end of the rope that was tied around the largest in tact part of the flashlight.

As if in response to her exclamation, the room around her began to glow faintly. Or, rather, it wasn't the room glowing. It was the swarm of strange, letter-like pokémon that had surrounded her without her even realizing it. Eve saw that they were slowly completely enclosing her, as if to cut her off from all contact with Katsu.

"It's unown!" Eve shouted out, hoping that Katsu could still hear her. "Let me try talking to them! Maybe they'll help me out."

Distantly, Eve heard Katsu's voice cry out, "Be careful! They might be angry that the roof of their home collapsed.

_I don't think so,_ Eve thought to herself as the swarm completely filled in the gap above her. _They don't seem angry, at least. It almost seems as if… as if they were the ones who caused the tremors. _"Unown! You were the ones who stopped my fall, right? Is there any way you could get me back to my friends up there?"

The unown began to make a sort of humming noise, and the light that they emanated grew brighter. However, not a single one of them attempted to make a response. Or maybe that _was_ their response, and Eve just hadn't been able to interpret it. _Are these pokémon so different from regular ones that I can't even understand them? Or maybe they aren't even pokémon at all… If scientists don't even have a clear picture of them, it's likely that they haven't really researched them enough to know what exactly they're supposed to be. _

Impacts of some sort sounded from above Eve's head and jerked her from her thoughts; Eve turned her gaze upward to see what the noise was. From among the ever-swirling hoard of unown, Eve saw that some of them were falling out of their places. Some had leaves embedded in them.

_Are they Hannah's? Or Tsutaja's? Either way, it's probably under Katsu's orders. This isn't good…_ Eve watched worriedly as the cool white light that the unown had been giving off shifted to a darker, angrier shade of red. Eve tried to shout out to Katsu and tell him to stop, but the spinning of the unown got faster and their humming noise got louder. There was no way that anyone would possibly hear her, even if she shouted as loudly as possible.

Then, in another moment, Eve was gone. Eve wasn't exactly sure how she knew she was someplace different; wherever it was, it was still dark, and the unown were still surrounding her. But aside from this almost identical visual, the place certainly felt different. The air seemed cleaner here, and much more humid than the other cavern had been.

Then unown's attitude had also changed. They're motions through the air were fluid and gentle again, and their light was back to being white. Eight of the unown separated themselves from the rest of the group and glowed more brightly than ever, arranging themselves in a line in front of Eve.

Eve did her best to decipher what they had spelled out. "Te… Tele… Teleport? Did you guys teleport me here?" The eight unown zoomed back to the group, and the humming grew momentarily louder as if confirming Eve's guess. Though she was glad to know what had happened, the fact that she was somewhere completely new worried Eve; now she had no idea where she was, or if there was any exit. She still didn't feel like the unown wanted to harm her, however. They seemed friendly enough, at least when they weren't being attacked. That was the only thing that consoled Eve and kept her from panicking.

"So why did you guys bring me here?" Eve asked, hoping that they'd be willing to spell out another answer.

In response, the unown floated upwards until Eve could tell that they were pressed out against the ceiling of the large, subterranean room. By the gentle glowing of their bodies, Eve could tell that this cave was much more complex than the part of the Ruins of Alph that she had seen. A pillar of wood stood in the center of the chamber, carved with unown runes much like the pillar of Sprout Tower. In fact, Eve could sense the same life energy here that had been present in the tower, though two energies weren't on the same level. Here it was much, much stronger.

Eve let the life energy flood through her, giving her the courage to continue examining the room with a level head. Three of the four walls in the room were completely covered with shelves made out of the rock itself. Curious, Eve walked over to one of the shelves to see what it held. To her surprise, the contents of the shelves appeared to be ancient leather-bound books, each with a dormant unown embedded in the cover. The books were perfectly preserved, despite the dark and damp atmosphere of the room. _Perhaps the unown in the binding helped to keep the books in good condition, _Eve speculated.

The humming of the unown on the ceiling raised a pitch higher, so Eve took that as a hint to move away from the books and towards the last wall. This wall was obviously the reason why the unown had brought her here. The runes that were etched into this wall were actually glowing with the same light as the unown, and the unown on the ceiling changed their pitch encouragingly as Eve approached.

She tried to read it, but this was more of the unown-script language that Eve wasn't familiar with. "If this is what you guys want me to read, then I'm sorry," Eve apologized. "But I don't know what any of this means."

The unown hummed disappointedly. Eve almost felt sorry for them; they'd gone so far out of the way to bring her here, and now it turned out that she couldn't understand what they wanted her to know.

Five of the unown dropped from the ceiling and hovered in front of her. "Write?" Eve asked when she read the word they formed. "You want me to write down the inscription? With what?"

Something sitting on the floor glowed, catching Eve's attention. The psychic energy of the unown surrounded it and carried it through the air, dropping the item at Eve's feet.

"My bag? How did it…" _My bag was sitting next to me when the floor collapsed. It must have been with me in the dark cavern that I fell down into, and the unown must have teleported it along with myself into this chamber. _"So what do you want me to do with… Oh! I get it! I've got paper and a pen in there!" the unown hummed happily in response. "So once I copy the writing down, will you guys take me back to my friends?"

The unown got louder. Eve took that as a yes.

"Okay, I'll get right to it, then!" Eve said, glad that she might be able to get back to somewhere with actual sunlight and fresh air. The engraving in the wall was only about a paragraph long, so she finished the project quickly. After about ten minutes of squinting, deciphering, and transcribing, Eve's finished product was a piece of paper with a veritable paragraph of alphabet soup on it.

Even despite the foreign language, she'd been able to pick up on a couple of words. The word _seikatsu _had been used once in the paragraph, and Katsu had mentioned before that this was his full name, which supposedly meant 'life'. The only other words that Eve recognized was repeated several times throughout the course of the passage: _ryuteki_.

_That's the ancient word for what's now the modern pokéflute_, Eve thought to herself. She wondered what could possibly so important about a pokéflute that the unown had felt obligated to bring her all the way here. _I took pokéflute lessons all through high school, and I remember that my teacher would call the instrument by its ancient name a lot. Ryuteki… I wonder… _Eve tucked the piece of paper into one of the outer pockets of her bag, and then dug through the main compartment, looking to see if she had left her instrument in the bag.

"Ah-ha! I do have it!" Eve said as curiosity overcame the last vestiges of her worry. She quickly assembled the small instrument. Despite its name, it really wasn't very flute-like; it was much more similar to the plastic recorders Eve remembered from her grade school years. Unlike a recorder, however, the pokeflute was a much more professional instrument, due to its higher difficulty to learn and much larger range.

Though Eve had never played in her school's band, she had taken a great interest in this particular instrument. As her pokéflute teacher had told her over and over again, the pokéflute wasn't _just _a regular instrument. It could wake up sleeping pokémon when nothing else could, for example. Played well, it could even calm down angry pokémon or attract wild pokémon.

Eve mentally went through her repertoire of songs, feeling guilty that she hadn't taken the time to practice in the past couple of weeks. Eventually, she decided on a tune that seemed to fit the atmosphere of this place. Though she'd played it often enough before that she had it memorized, Eve was still almost entranced as she listened to her song echo against the rock walls. It was a haunting melody filled with minor chords, though these dissonant tones eventually led to calmer phrases later on in the piece. It was also filled with an energy that kept the song moving forward, not once allowing silence to fill the chamber for longer than a heartbeat.

The unown glowed more brightly, and their humming changed into a more elaborate harmony that actually complemented Eve's melody quite nicely. Eve almost stopped playing out of surprise at first when she heard the unown take up the song, though as it turned out, she didn't have the heart to stop such a wonderful song halfway through.

It took her nearly ten minutes before she finally decided to put the flute away. The song created with the unown and the pokéflute combined had just been so beautiful that Eve had even added her own improvisations to the piece, to see what harmonies and coutermelodies the unown would form.

"Well," she said as she put the flute away in her bag and put her bag on her back. "It didn't really do anything… I thought that maybe the inscription meant that I was supposed to play the flute. But at least you guys liked it, didn't you?"

The unown hummed happily, mimicking some of the phrasing of the song.

Eve smiled, glad that this whole mess had actually turned out somewhat well. _Then again_, she thought, _I'm not out of the woods just yet… I'm still in a cave at who knows where in the world. _Shaking the gloomy thought from her mind, she addressed the unown. "Okay, so when I get back, I'm going to give this piece of paper with the inscription written on it to the scientists, since they have a better chance of figuring it out than I do. That's okay, right?"

Three unown floated down to Eve. _Yes_, they spelled.

"Is it also okay if I tell them about this place here, so that they might have a better chance at finding it? I'm sure they'd love to try to interpret all these books. It might even give them a better chance at finding the meaning behind the thing you had me copy down."

The group of unown as a whole flashed blue momentarily, as if unsure whether or not to grant this request. In a couple moments, though, they had made their same three unown as before came down and once again spelled out their approval.

Eve smiled. "Thank you! I promise you that they won't harm this chamber at all, so you needn't worry about that. Is there anything else you need to tell me before you send me back?"

The swarm began to revolve around Eve again, like they had before teleporting her the first time. She guessed that was answer enough until four of the unown separated themselves from the group and flashed neon green right in front of her.

"Ilex? What's that supposed to mean?" Eve asked. But the four letters had already melted back into the group as the unown spun faster and faster around Eve. Eve watched, almost entranced by the complex sequences and pathways they formed as they wove around one another in the air.

Then, in another moment, they were all gone. Eve found herself standing outside of the surface chamber where she had originally fallen. She could see scientists inside the chamber crouching next to an electric lantern, apparently examining the newly created hole.

Eve heard voices coming from the other side of the chamber, though, and so she decided to move that way. The scientists seemed rather busy, after all, and she didn't want to bother them. Eve stepped lightly as she walked around the building; when she stumbled upon Katsu talking with a police officer, she didn't immediately make herself know. _What am I supposed to say? 'Hey, Katsu, I'm back! Did you miss me?'_

Near Katsu's feet were Hannah and Basil, both looking absolutely glum. Even so, they were still more attuned to Eve's presence than Katsu or the officer were; they noticed Eve almost as soon as she turned the corner.

~Eve!~ Basil said, shouting out audibly and drawing everyone else's attention as he rushed forward and into Eve's arms. Hannah ran forward as well, though she didn't say anything; it seemed to Eve like she was trying to play it cool, as if she'd never even worried in the first place.

"I missed you, too, Basil," Eve said, doing her best to comfort the distressed pichu.

~Hey! What about me?~ Hannah asked.

Eve laughed. "You too, Hannah."

Meanwhile, Katsu and the police officer both hurried over to where Eve was standing.

"Eve! You're all right!" Katsu said, looking both relieved and perplexed. "But… how? I mean, you were surrounded by that swarm of unown, and then 'poof'. You were gone, just like that. I'm not just seeing things, am I?"

"No, you're still perfectly sane… at least in that respect," Eve joked. "I guess the unown just wanted to show me something. I hope you didn't throw the whole town into a riot about a girl abducted by pokémon, did you? I've been gone, what, twenty minutes?" Eve asked, eyeing the police officer.

The police officer seemed a bit dumbfounded, but answered politely, "No, but I was just about to call in the disappearance to the station when you showed up. Please excuse me if I'm being rude, but… You did really disappear, didn't you?"

Eve nodded. "I suppose so. The unown teleported me off somewhere else, but as you can see, the teleported me back easily enough. Aside from being a bit tired and dirty from all the action, I think I'm fine now."

"What's going on out here?" Eve heard a voice from behind her ask. She turned to see that one of the scientists from the chamber had come out to see what was causing the commotion.

"Eve's back," Katsu said, an enormous grin on his face. "Eve, this is the head scientist of all the research endeavors here at the ruins. He's the one who had the flashlight and the rope when you were at the bottom of the hole."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Eve said, amused by how surprised everyone was acting that she was back.

The scientist pushed his glasses up on his nose. "The fact that you've interacted with unown makes the pleasure here all mine," the man assured. "I've worked here for nearly two decades, and not once have I ever even seen an unown. We wouldn't have even realized that there was an underground section of the ruins without this incident. Do you realized that the unown actually pulverized the floor beneath you with their hidden power attack?"

"Yes, I figured that one out," Eve replied. "They also used their power to keep me from hurting myself when I fell. And _then_ they teleported me to a completely different chamber… Which reminds me." Eve took off her bag and pulled the sheet of paper from one of its pocket. "This is for you. The unown wanted me to read what it said, but I couldn't understand a word of it. It was originally engraved into a wall in unown-script. I was hoping that maybe you'd be able to make more sense of it than I could."

The scientist glanced over the sheet, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, but we're still trying to decode the language ourselves. I can make out a couple of words, but most of it is going to have to stay a mystery for now. But please, I'll gather my colleagues and we'll head back to our research base. I really must hear everything that happened to you, so we can examine the entire situation and record this rare interaction with the unown. We haven't had a major find like this in ages."

"If you don't mind, I'll need to listen to the story, too," the police officer said. "Even if you're already back safe and sound, I can't just return to the station without a report."

So Eve, her pokémon (both of whom were too antsy to go back to their pokéballs), Katsu, the researchers, and the lone police officer all ended up crowding into the much-too-small research base. Eve, though already exhausted, was forced to recount her entire side of the story. She went through how she tried to talk to the unown first, which elicited enough questions for an entire ten-minute discussion; apparently, the scientists found it important to know just exactly how Eve normally communicated with pokémon. She also described the room that reminded her of Sprout Tower in some ways, and was eventually forced to go into great detail about the actions of the unown themselves. Nearly half an hour had passed by the time Eve had finished her tale and the scientists were out of questions.

"So here's my cell phone number, just in case you need to ask me something about the unown again," Eve finally said, thinking that it might be the only way that the scientists would let her go home. Even if her story was finished, the scientists kept on stalling her, afraid that they'd think of some other miniscule detail that needed to be questioned. "Also, would you call me if you ever manage to translate that paragraph? The unown made it seem like it was important."

"Sure thing," the head scientist said. "All of our research is funded through grants from the executive branch of the government, so all our findings are public domain. That means we shouldn't have any issues getting you the information right away."

The police officer looked up at the clock on the wall. "You know, I'm fairly certain the buses don't run this late. Do you kids need me to drive you home?"

"That'd be great, if you don't have to rush off to your next police officer duties," Katsu said, responding for the both of them. "You can just drop us off at the pokémon academy; that's where Eve's staying, and my house is just a couple blocks north of there."

The officer grinned. "Okay, then let's head out before another flood of questions comes our way. Otherwise we might _never_ get out of here."

The ride home was fairly uneventful, though both Eve and Katsu found it interesting to listen to the police radio. The officer was nice, and he made a lot of jokes throughout the drive, often at the expense of the somewhat over-eager researchers.

They got back to the dorms in no time, and Katsu escorted Eve to the door. Before Eve could go in, though, Katsu stopped her. "You know, when you were telling your story, you started to say something towards the end. But then stopped yourself. Are you keeping something a secret from the scientist guys?" he asked. "I mean, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'm just sort of curious."

"Hm? I didn't think anyone had caught that," Eve said, not at all unhappy that Katsu had noticed her slip up. "Something else did happen, but I didn't want to tell the scientists about it. It felt almost… more personal, in a way. But right before the unown teleported me back to the Ruins of Alph, they spelled out one last word. I didn't understand it, though."

"What was it?" Katsu asked.

"I-L-E-X," Eve said. "Ilex. I'm hoping that maybe I'll figure it out on my own, somehow."

Katsu ruffled his hair and smiled at Eve, obviously rather amused. "Well, I can probably tell you what it means. Or what it is, at least."

"Really?"

"Sure. Ilex Forest is the largest wooded area in Johto," Katsu explained. "It's actually just north of Azalea Town, and just west of here a ways. So what do you think the unown meant by mentioning that word?"

Eve thought for a moment. "Can't really say. I guess I'll just have to go there and find out! Though I hope it's not anything urgent. After all of today's chaos, I just want to finish up this summer school thing without any more mishaps. But I guess the unown have chosen my next destination for me! That certainly saves me a lot of trouble."

"I think you might be the only person I know who could get kidnapped by unown and still see it as a convenience," Katsu said, grinning. "Anyway, I'll see you later. I need to get home soon, or my mom will be angry with me."

"Wait one moment," Eve said before he could leave. "Something occurred to me on the ride home that I wanted to ask you about…"

"Yeah, what?" Katsu asked.

"I'm not sure how to put this, but…" Eve hesitated, then took a breath to find her courage. "Did you show me around today as, like, a date or something?"

Katsu smiled, obviously amused at how bluntly Eve was asking such a question. "Yeah, I sorta did mean it to be a date. Though I realized quickly that you were completely oblivious to that fact, no offense intended. I still had a really great time, though."

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry," Eve said. "I feel so dense sometimes… But unless someone says something directly, I don't always pick up on the other meanings right away."

"Don't worry about it," Katsu said, completely unconcerned. "And admittedly, after the disagreement on the way to Sprout Tower, I started to think that me dating you probably wouldn't be the best combination. Not when my view on pokémon is so contradictory to yours."

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that… To be honest, you're nice and all, but I couldn't date someone so… so…" Eve didn't quite know how to put her thoughts into words, so she altered the subject slightly. "You will think more about it, won't you? I mean, I know you're apparently pretty satisfied with your own beliefs, but-"

"If we can still be friends despite our current conflict of principles, then I'll definitely attempt to think about it some more," Katsu said, cutting Eve off before she could finish her sentence. "Heck, if it means you'd let me date you someday, then I might just have to change my point of view just for that."

Eve blushed, unsure how to respond. She wasn't used to guys hitting on her. At least, not in a way that was obvious enough for her to recognize.

Katsu saw her blush and laughed. "Now I see that you _can_ be flattered, or at least recognize a compliment for what it is. But don't worry; for now, we'll just be friends. Agreed?"

"Uh, yeah," Eve said, still flustered.

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you on Monday!"

Katsu left to go back to his own home, mercifully leaving Eve to her own thoughts. Eve opened the door to the dorms walked through her wing of the building and to her small, single-person dorm room, nearly tripping out of exhaustion several times along the way. Immediately after entering her room, she dropped down onto her bed, completely worn out.

_A date, huh?_ She thought groggily. _Well, it's certainly a change from my old high school. Not even the girls talked to me there; they all thought that I was a freak. And if some of the stuff they said is to be believed, a lot of the guys were too intimidated to go out with someone who could do something that they couldn't. _The corners of Eve's mouth tugged upwards slightly in a smile as she surrendered to sleep. _As I said, it's a change… but not necessarily a bad one, I think._

_

* * *

_

^_^ I hadn't reread this chapter in some time... Just reading the last few paragraphs made me smile.

...And as for real time progress on the story, I'm editing Chapter 12 right now. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do when I start working on Chapter 13... There's a lot that I need to fit into the chapter, but I'm not certain what would be best described in quick summaries and what should be the actual meat of the chapter... So I'm worried it might take me a while to get it finished, especially since school started this week.

Also, I put a poll on my profile, considering that several of the most recent chapters I've written are going well over 6000 words. For example, the previously mentioned chapter 12 is over 7000 words, but I can't find a good place to break it into two parts. So anyway, here's the poll question: What's your preference on chapter length? I'd appreciate it if you take the time to answer, so that I know if maybe I should work on making the chapters a bit shorter.

I can't particularly think of anything else to say, except that I would love to hear from more people about what they think of my story! For those of you who have read this far in the story, what do you like most about it? The characters? The concept of a girl who can talk to pokemon? The prospect of delving into religions and other similar aspects of the pokemon world, such as in Chapter 3? The plot?

And what do you dislike about it, if anything? Really, I want to know! So please review!


	6. Remedial Lessons

**Chapter Six: Remedial Lessons**

Eve stepped out of her dorm room, awake and ready for the day. It was Friday of her third week of summer school. That meant there was only one more week to go, and then she could be on her way again. Not that she wasn't going to miss some of the people here.

_Even though I'll be glad to be done with school, I'm still really going to miss the people here. Katsu and Mr. Terruf especially._ Katsu was one of the most polite boys that Eve had ever met in some ways, and she found that she couldn't even begrudge him for how readily he jumped into relationships. _I mean, we'd barely talked with each other five minutes before he asked me out that first week. _In fact, now that she thought about it, Eve found that aspect of him kind of amusing. Mr. Terruf, for his part, had proved himself over the weeks to not only be very funny, but a great teacher as well. Even Eve, who was normally a terrible learner, managed to pick up on quite a lot when Mr. Terruf was teaching.

As Eve walked into the central meeting room of her part of the dorm, she felt that the atmosphere was different than normal, and so she brought herself out of her thoughts. She looked around and saw that several of the other teenage girls were reading the newspaper, which alone was odd. The only people that Eve had seen read the newspaper were one or two of the older ladies in the class. The people in her age group didn't really seem to care about current events.

A quiet girl named Rose was the first to notice Eve's arrival. "Hi, Eve. Did you know that there's an article about you in the paper this morning? Front page."

Eve sighed, unsure quite how to react to this news. "One of the reporters caught me as I came out of class last week… I told him I didn't _want_ an article in the paper about me. And I refused to have an interview. He told me that even if I didn't want it, they would publish the article on a day when there wasn't any other big news. I didn't think he'd publish it on the front page, though."

"Almost makes you wish that we didn't adopt the personal freedoms clause from the Isshu Constitution all those years ago, don't it?" One of the older women joked.

"I suppose so," Eve said, though she admittedly didn't really remember that lesson in her history class.

"Why don't I read the article out loud, so that everyone who wants to hear it can," a seventeen-year-old named Christina said. "That way we won't have to keep on passing around the papers all morning. After all, pretty much everyone thinks that it's cool that a classmate has managed to get into the paper, so I'm pretty sure that everyone who hasn't read it yet wants to hear it."

Eve hesitated to agree. "I don't know about reading it aloud… Where are, you know…"

"The girls that hate you?" Rose proffered timidly. "Most of them already left. They were jealous that someone like you could get into the paper. The rest are probably still asleep."

"Oh, in that case, I guess you can go ahead and read aloud," Eve said. "Hopefully it's not too embarrassing."

"No, it's really complimentary," Christina assured as she ruffled the paper dramatically. "The headline is, 'Temporary Student Brings Change to Violet City.' Okay, here we go:

"Violet City is one of numerous locales in the Johto region where a focus on history is oftentimes considered more important than the present. This month, however, a new student at Earl's Pokémon Academy has been turning heads and been teaching the community that there is always more to be learned about the past.

"Even at first glance, it is easy to tell that there has to be something special about Eve Atwood, age eighteen. Her bright red hair automatically draws the eye to her, and her vivid green eyes keep your attention. Yet these defining physical characteristics are not even close to being her most unique aspects. Eve Atwood's most exceptional trait is her ability to talk with pokémon.

"Though Eve respectfully declined interview for this article, others had plenty to say about this exceptional girl and her distinctive ability.

"'I was a bit incredulous about it myself, at first,' says Mr. Robert Terruf in reference to her unique talent; Mr. Terruf is Eve's teacher at Earl's Pokémon Academy. He continued: 'But as time has passed, it became apparent that she was telling the truth. One of my assistants verified it irrefutably; she really does have the ability to understand and communicate with pokémon.'

"The students are also forming their opinions about Eve. 'She's really nice,' said Rose Hobbs, age sixteen. 'She's different, but I think that's what makes a lot of students like her.'"

"Woah, woah, woah, hold up for a minute," Eve interrupted before Christina could continue to the next paragraph. "Rose, they actually got you to _talk_? I don't think _I _even heard you talk until this week."

Rose blushed. "The reporter was catching random students as they went into the school in the morning," Rose said. "And Tiffany and Grace and the rest of them were coming right after me. I didn't want him to put their statements in the article."

Eve was touched. Tiffany and Grace and their buddies were the ones who gave Eve as much trouble as they could both in and out of class. It didn't bother Eve much since she was normally too dense or too focused on something else to really take their criticisms to heart. But she didn't like to think what direction the article might have taken if the reporter had interviewed those not-so-nice people instead of Rose. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

Rose just blushed more, too embarrassed to reply.

"Can I keep on reading?" Christina said.

"Yeah, go ahead," Eve said.

Christina cleared her throat, and then continued. "Her school is not the only place in which Eve is standing out. Since the beginning of her classes, she's also started working part time at the local pokémon center. 'She's a real help,' says head doctor Catherine Means. 'Even though I'm experienced, pokémon are complicated creatures, and there are so many that it's hard to know every single thing that could go wrong with every single species. Eve has been able to pinpoint problems when I am unable to locate any obvious cause of injury. I'll be sorry when she has to leave; she makes my job a lot easier.'

"Her most important impact on the community, though, is undoubtedly at the Ruins of Alph. A little under two weeks ago this newspaper reported on a huge discovery at the ruins, as well as the girl who triggered the events leading up to this finding. As it turns out, the Eve of that story and the Eve of this one are one and the same.

"'We never would have suspected that there were actually ruins beneath the surface chambers of the Ruins of Alph,' says Mr. Jeffrey Long, the head researcher at the ruins. 'I have no doubt in my mind that there must be something very special about that girl that caused the unown to be drawn to her.'

"What this 'special something' is – either her charming personality, her skills with pokémon, or another thing entirely – is completely up for debate. One thing, however, is certain. Violet City will certainly miss this teenager when she decides to leave."

Eve was speechless at first. "Aside from some embellishments, it was actually pretty accurate. But how'd they get that picture for the front page?" Eve asked as she spied one of her graduation pictures from a couple months ago.

"Internet, I'm sure," Christina said. "It's amazing what you can find. Just try searching your name sometime; you'll find out more about yourself than even you know about."

"Strangeness aside, I guess it's actually kind of cool," Eve admitted. "I've never really been in the paper before. Though I'm not excited to hear all the comments from the other people in class."

Christina shrugged. "Just don't worry about it, that's what I'd say. It'll all blow over during the weekend, and no one will even remember it during our last week of school."

"I suppose so," Eve agreed. Then she looked at the clock on the wall and gasped. "We'd probably better hurry to class," Eve said, regretting that all the excitement had meant that she didn't get to eat any breakfast. "We've got less than five minutes to the bell!"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve waited anxiously at her desk as she watched everyone else file out of the classroom. Mr. Terruf had asked to speak to her after class was over, and so until everyone else left the room, Eve was left to wonder anxiously what the matter could be. _Was it because I was late this morning? But no, other people were late, too, and they've been late practically every single day. Maybe there's some school policy about not being in the news while you're attending this school? But I declined the interview, so there's not a lot else that I could have done about it. So what's up?_

After everyone else had left the classroom, Mr. Terruf gestured for Eve to come up to his desk. "Here's the deal, Miss Atwood," he said, for once being serious. "We have one more week of class left, and you are on the verge of failing. The only reason that you aren't completely failing right now is that you did stupendously in our second week of class, when we focused on how to treat pokémon injuries. However, this course has more of a focus on battling and strategy, and when it comes to that, you seem to be struggling. How do you feel about the possibility of failing?"

"I'd really like to pass this class," Eve responded, "And I'm sorry that I'm such a terrible learner. I'm trying, I really am… But I'm no good with all the memorizations of species and attacks and abilities, and when we've had our practice battles in class, I've found that I'm really no good under pressure. And I know that we're doing more battling next week, so my grade will probably fall even more then…Is there maybe some form of extra credit I can do?"

Mr. Terruf grinned. "I was hoping you would ask that. There are other students who are failing and they know it, but I'm not going to offer them this opportunity simply because they don't care. I can tell that you're actually trying, though, and so I'll give you a chance to get back enough credit to make sure that you pass. But it'll be tough."

"What is it?" Eve asked.

"If you can bring me back the Zephyr Badge from the Violet City Gym, then I'll give you enough extra credit to pass the class," Mr. Terruf said. "Since this is your first gym, the pokémon he uses won't be too powerful, though he won't tone down his level of strategy."

"Oh, that's fine!" Eve said. "Even though I kinda doubt that I'll be able to accomplish the task, at least I'll have a chance. I'm just grateful for the opportunity."

"If you are going to take on the challenge," Mr. Terruf said, "I suggest you start training right away. You also might want to try talking with Katsu, since you both seem to get along well. He took on and beat Faulkner soon before this summer school course started. He should be able to give you some advice."

"Thanks! I'll get right on it!" Eve said, rushing out of the classroom.

To her relief, Katsu was waiting just outside the door for her. "Hey, what's the rush?" he asked.

"Mr. Terruf says I have to beat the gym leader here before school ends, or else I probably won't pass the class," Eve explained, both excited and anxious at the prospect. "He said that you battled him just recently. Could you tell me more about how the gym works?"

Katsu ran his hand through his hair. "Sure, if it'll help. I'll even train with you some this weekend, if you want."

"That'd be great," Eve said. "But first, I want to just hear how the gym challenge is set up. I really don't know that much about it. Oh, and I want my pokémon to know." She reached into her travel bag (which she was using for her books as long as she was in school) and pulled out her two pokéballs, summoning both Basil and Hannah. "You two, I want you to listen carefully to what Katsu says, because we've got to take on the gym challenge if I want to pass this class. Katsu has battled this gym before, so he knows what he's talking about."

~Okay,~ Basil replied neutrally, whereas Hannah answered with a much more enthusiastic ~Yes!~

"First thing's first; you need to know the specialty of the gym," he said, talking more to Eve than to her pokémon. "Faulkner likes bird pokémon, so the flying type is his main focus. That means that your pichu will have a natural advantage, but your chikorita will have a disadvantage. You'll have to register for a battle a day in advance, though you can challenge him as many times as you want. Since it's your first gym badge, he'll use two fairly low-level pokémon. Battling him was my first gym challenge as well, and he used a hoothoot and a pidgey for me.

"And let's see… You also can switch your pokémon in and out as much as you want, while the gym leader can't. A lot of trainers choose to send out their best pokémon first, and then if the going gets tough, they switch out to let it rest for a while. Then they finish up strong with that first pokémon if the other one can't finish. That is, this strategy works if you're a good judge of when to switch out or not. Gym battles are really more of a test of the trainer, not the strength of the pokémon. It takes good judgment to win, as well as quick thinking."

Eve frowned. If that was the case, then she had even less of a chance of winning. Still, she had to try. "So, you've seen me battling with my pokémon this past week in class… What do you think we need to improve on?"

Katsu thought for a moment. "Well, your pichu's power – or, rather, lack of it – is a concern."

~Hey!~ Basil said, though Katsu of course didn't hear him.

"Even though he's an electric type, his thundershock attack isn't very strong. You'll need to work on that, though there's admittedly not much you can do to boost power in such a short time," Katsu said. "Better yet, I think you might want to work on his thunder wave attack. Bird pokémon are all about mobility, so if you can paralyze it and it least slow the enemy's movements, you'll already have won half the battle."

"And what about Hannah?" Eve asked.

"To be frank, I think you'll want to avoid using her, if you can," Katsu suggested. "Even if the bird pokémon Faulkner will use are weak, a couple good hits might be enough to KO a grass type. To be honest, I have yet to hear of a really decent strategy for when a grass pokémon is put up against a bird."

~Hey, Eve!~ Hannah said. ~I don't care what he says! I still want to battle! And I've even got a couple ideas for training, for both Basil and myself.~

Eve looked down at Hannah. "You've got ideas for training?" Eve said, echoing the question for Katsu's sake. "Like what?"

~You met a lot of bird pokémon in the woods on the way here, right?~ Hannah said. ~Why don't you ask them if they'd like to help you prepare for the battle? They all seemed to really like you, so I sort of doubt that they'd mind the request much.~

"That's a good idea, I'd say," Then, turning to Katsu, she explained Hannah's suggestion.

Katsu blinked, slightly dumbfounded. "Can't say I would have expected a pokémon to come up with such a good plan, but it actually is a good idea. It would have helped tremendously if I'd had more actual combat experience with flying-types before my match. I could have avoided some of my mistakes."

Hannah perked her leaf up haughtily. ~Of course it's a good plan. I came up with it, didn't I? And just wait until you hear the strategies I've got… If we can get comfortable enough with them by the time we battle, I'm almost certain that we'll win.~

~Hey, Eve?~ Basil asked. ~Would you mind if we don't bring Katsu along for training? I mean, it just seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth for you be translating for us all the time, especially when we're just stupid pokémon in his mind.~

~To be honest, I think we should be training by ourselves, too,~ Hannah said. ~I don't want him interfering with my strategies, after all.~

Eve scowled. "More likely, you just want all the credit for the strategy for yourself," Eve said, not bothering to explain to Katsu what her pokémon were saying. "What's gotten into the both of you? He offered to help us, and he has a lot more experience than any of us do. Are you going to be so rude that you'd just turn down that help?"

Basil repositioned his ears, obviously unhappy. ~Eve, you know I wouldn't be rude unless I didn't have a reason. He's way ruder to us than we are to him. I know you think he's nice, but there's only so much I can handle.~

~Same here,~ Hannah added. ~Though admittedly, I do kinda want the credit for the strategy.~

Eve sighed, realizing that Basil had a point. She turned to Katsu. "Katsu, I'm sorry I've got to do this, but my pokémon are forcing me to respectfully decline your offer to help."

"What! Why?" Katsu said.

"To put it bluntly… you're kind of rude to them."

"Name one time that I've been rude to your pokémon. Just one."

Eve grimaced, not particular liking where the conversation was going. Still, she couldn't just let his question go unanswered; he would undoubtedly interpret silence as proof that he wasn't rude. "Just a few moments ago, you acted so surprised that pokémon could come up with a good plan," Eve pointed out. "And I've told you before that they don't like how you talk about them as if they're not there."

"So you're just going to blindly follow what your pokémon want? You know that I could give you a lot more help than they could," Katsu argued, a hint of anger lighting up his face.

Eve's shoulders slumped a little bit. She wasn't ashamed by Katsu's accusation, though; she was simply sad that even after three weeks, he'd hardly changed his opinion about the supposed inferiority of pokémon. This was one of the strange quirks of Eve's personality: when either she or her pokémon were criticized, she didn't get angry in retaliation, like practically any other person would. She just got really sad and depressed.

"Yes, I'll just blindly follow what my pokémon want," Eve said quietly, looking down at the ground. "Because, unlike you, they don't criticize who I consider important. Even though you're rude to them, they don't say particularly mean things about you, in spite of the fact that they could get away with it without you hearing them. Basil's also been my best friend for nine years. _Nine years_. Even if you think he's just a pokémon, his opinion matters more to me than yours. A lot more."

Katsu's face went red. "I can't believe this! I mean, when I found out you could talk to pokémon, I knew you'd probably be a little bit biased in their favor, but I didn't think you'd be this much of a bleeding-heart pokémon-fanatic! You're-"

"Crazy, I'm sure. I've heard it plenty of times before," Eve said, so softly that Katsu almost didn't catch it. Basil and Hannah were both on the ground, and they had gradually moved themselves in between Katsu and Eve. Basil was literally sparking with fury, looking prepared to attack Katsu at the slightest provocation; Katsu, true to his nature, didn't even notice the two angry pokémon. "Anyway, Katsu, I'll be going now," Eve finished. "I suppose I'll see you on Monday." She turned to walk away.

"Eve, wait!" Katsu said, both anger and regret evident in his voice. "Just listen to reason!" He grabbed her arm firmly, but almost immediately let go as Basil used a warning thundershock. The electric attack went through his grip and into Eve as well, and though it surprised her, she was too despondent to really acknowledge it. She just kept on walking. Basil and Hannah both waited a couple more seconds to make sure that Katsu wouldn't try anything else, and then they rushed after their trainer.

"If that's how it is, then fine!" Katsu shouted to Eve's back as she walked away. "We'll see how smart your pokémon are when they lose the battle for you!"

* * *

I know it's a short chapter... The next chapter was originally part of it, but that got into the 7000 word count... And since I could divide this one up easily, I did.

On another note... Come on, people. If you like the story enough, the least you could do is take part in the poll I announced at the end of the last chapter! Only one person has voted! And review! So far, RedemptionWarrior is the only person who has reviewed!

...Okay, I'm really not that angry. I like writing the story, that's why it's here. Still, it'd be nice to hear what people think. And also on that note, thank you a LOT, RedemptionWarrior! ^_^ I'm really glad to hear what you think any time you review. And thanks for pointing out Anabel and Sheena... I'd forgotten about Sheena, and I never really knew that Anabel had a similar ability. Though both of them are knock offs of Yellow from the manga. And even so, Yellow's ability is still different from Eve's. Anyway, thank you yet again!

And EVERYONE: Please at least consider reviewing or answering the poll! I'd really, really appreciate it!


	7. Strategy

**Chapter Seven: Strategy**

_So this is it, then_. Eve thought to herself as she stood in the challenger's box of the battlefield, waiting for Faulkner to finish his conversation with the match's judge. _It's already Wednesday… It took us this long to perfect the techniques that Hannah came up with. That means I've only got a chance at getting this badge today and tomorrow if I want to pass my class. _She looked down at the pokéball in her hand and saw that her arm was trembling. _Even though I'm this nervous… I'm confident at the same time. I believe in Hannah's strategies, and we've practiced at this long enough that I think that I'll be able to keep from panicking. And I've gotta do this for the two of them… I know they'll both be upset if we lose, especially after Katsu's last comment during that fight._

Eve glanced over at the spectator's bleachers at the side of this battlefield. Some of the people there she didn't know; they were just kids who had nothing better to do than come and watch a gym battle. However, many people there she did know. Rose and Christina from her class were there, as well as a couple of Eve's other classmates. Mr. Terruf was present, since it was his extra credit assignment that was the cause of this battle. Katsu was there as well, sitting away from the rest. He had tried to apologize for his actions on Monday, but Eve had flat out refused to accept it. She wasn't holding a grudge, exactly; she simply knew he wasn't sorry about his views towards pokémon. Since then, neither she nor Katsu had really tried talking to each other.

"Sorry for the wait!" Faulkner said, moving back to his proper position on the battlefield. "I just had to discuss something with judge. So, are you ready to battle?"

Eve marveled at how young Faulkner looked; he was probably only a few years older than she was. His hair was dyed completely blue, and it matched his outfit; just the sort of somewhat silly getup that a lot of young people tried to style at some point of another. _And he's already strong enough to be a gym leader? That's amazing._ "Yup! I'm ready to battle!" Eve said.

Faulkner smiled encouragingly. "Now that's what I like to hear!" he said, grasping his own pokéball. "While I'm sure you already know the rules, I still have to say them. League guidelines and whatnot. So…" He cleared his throat. "Each side may use a total of two pokémon! You, the challenger, may switch pokémon at any time. I, as gym leader, will not be allowed that luxury. Seeing as you have no gym badges yet, the pokémon I use will be of a level that I deem proportional to your gym battling experience. Is this all acceptable?"

"I suppose so," Eve said, doing her best to sound calmer than she actually was.

"Good. Then let's begin!" Faulkner said as he tossed out his first pokéball. The energy that was released coalesced into a small, rather fierce looking bird pokémon. _A spearow_, Eve said, recognizing it. She threw out her own pokéball, and Hannah appeared from the light.

The judge raised his arm. "Faulkner's spearow versus the challenger's chikorita. The match may now commence!"

"Using a grass pokémon first, huh?" Faulkner said. "That's an interesting choice. Let's see if you thought it out well! Spearow, use peck!"

_When the pokémon comes in close, we take the opportunity to poison it._ Eve recited in her head, the strategy pounded into her memory after days of work. "Hannah! Poisonpowder!"

Hannah used her leaf as a fan and spread out the poisonous dust in a wide area in front of her, right in the spearow's path of flight.

"Spearow! Go over it, then dive in for a fury attack!"

_Wait, he's not going to be using wind-based attacks to blow away the poison? Why's that? Though they did cause us some trouble during training, we were counting on a long-ranged battle. Unless…_ Eve looked closer at the spearow, and for the first time noticed just how relatively small his wings were in comparison to his body. _That's gotta be it; the spearow's wings aren't as wide or as long as a pidgey's, so he can't use whirlwind or gust. In fact, he looks like he prefers physical attacks. That changes things a bit, but we still should be able to make it work._

"Defensive vine whip!" Eve shouted out. This was one of the moves that took the most concentration for Hannah to use successfully; Eve hoped that Hannah could do it. Four vines – one each from the farthest front, back, left, and right buds of her neck – snaked out, each reaching over seven feet in length. She began to lash them in the air around her body in an erratic, seemingly patternless way, creating a huge hazard for any opponent that tried to get close.

"I see you really did plan ahead!" Faulkner shouted out. "Spearow, fall back to my side of the battlefield, then use leer! When we get a chance to get in close, I'm going to need you to make it count!" the spearow flew back to Faulkner's half of the arena, then leered at Hannah from his position in the air.

_Perfect. _"Hannah, razorleaf!"

~Got it!~ Hannah said excitedly. This was the main reason why the training had taken so long, but it had definitely been worth it. Hannah rapidly fired off one leaf after another, though she aimed them so that covered a large area. True, clustering them together would do more damage if it hit, but with an opponent that could dodge so easily, they had decided to take no chances. Only a couple of the several dozen she sent out actually struck their target, and even then, the spearow seemed almost unaffected by the cuts he received.

"You know, grass-type attacks don't do much to bird pokémon," Faulkner pointed out. "Now, spearow, use… Wait, what's going on?"

The spearow dropped a few feet, and then another few feet after that, though he flapped his wings frantically to try to keep aloft. Eve could tell that his breathing was becoming more frequent as he tried to pull clean air into his lungs.

_I'm sorry, little spearow… I really hope that what Totodile said was right, about all pokémon liking to battle. It would be cruel if I had done this to someone who didn't want to battle in the first place._

"Was some of the poison still lingering around?" Faulkner questioned aloud. "No, that can't be right… Spearow didn't go anywhere near where the cloud of poison had been, and it should have dissipated by now, anyway. What did you do to my spearow, then?" He shouted out this last question to Eve.

_I can't tell, even though I'd like to; it would ruin the surprise of Hannah's strategy. _"That's for me to know, and you to… well, not know," Eve said.

"Judge! Is this foul play?" Faulkner shouted. "Maybe my spearow was poisoned before the match! In that case, we would need to cancel this battle!"

~That's not fair! I totally did it!~ Hannah cried out despairingly.

"Judge, I assure you, the poisoning is from Hannah!" Eve said, defensively. "If need be, I'll tell you my strategy, but only once the match is over!"

The judge made a quick decision. "No foul found, though it will be looked into at the end of the match!" he said. "Let the battle recommence!"

Faulkner's jaw was clenched now; gone was the cocky manner of before. "Fine, then. We'll have to make the next attack count, so that spearow can do some damage before he faints. Spearow, use peck at full strength!"

Despite his weakness, the spearow darted forward.

"Hannah, defensive vines again!" Eve shouted. "If you get the opportunity, grab the spearow when he gets close!"

"Spearow, ignore the vines! Just focus on your target and keep at full speed!"

In a couple of moments, the tiny bird collided into Hannah. He was moving too fast for Hannah to stop him, and his momentum leant him extra force in his initial peck. The attack did quite a bit of damage but, to Hannah's credit, the spearow didn't get a chance to continue his pecking. Hannah's vines quickly wrapped around the tiny body, and she lifted the helpless bird above her head.

"All right, that's enough!" Faulkner said, stopping Eve before she could order what to do with the spearow. "My spearow isn't strong enough to keep fighting." He held out his pokéball and recalled the injured bird. "Though I still think that someone's playing dirty."

He called forth a pidgey next. "I'd like to see your chikorita deal with this."

"Actually, Hannah's going to sit out for now," Eve said, recalling her chikorita. Hannah didn't protest; they'd agreed beforehand that if they managed to get this far, Basil would get to battle the second pokémon. Plus, that peck attack had dealt some fairly heavy damage, and Eve thought it wise for Hannah to rest for a bit. "Basil, it's your turn!" she shouted as the tiny electric mouse emerged from his pokéball.

~Did Hannah win?~ he asked, looking back. Eve nodded, and Basil quickly turned his attention back to his opponent. ~ Then I can't let her outshine me, can I now! I'll just have to take care of my opponent all by myself as well!~

"May the battle between Faulkner's pidgey and the challenger's pichu commence!"

"Pidgey, blow that puny thing away with gust!" Faulkner said immediately, obviously hoping to get the upper hand.

_Okay, now to try Hannah's idea to keep Basil from blowing away. _"Basil, hunker down!"

Basil flattened himself against the ground and dug all four paws plus his long tail into the ground. He also flattened his ears back against his head, to keep himself as streamlined as possible.

Unfortunately, the battlefield here was made of sand. While this was normally a good thing since it cushioned otherwise serious impacts, it left nothing for Basil to really hold onto. That, combined with his small body size, made it all too easy for him to be blown off his feet.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked as the pidgey stopped creating its windstorm.

~Yeah, just a little damage. Now let me attack!~

"Okay then, use thundershock!" Basil's little arc of lightning shot towards the pidgey. The bird tried to dodge, but electric-type attacks were usually fast and accurate; the pidgey took the hit directly. However, Eve frowned when she saw that the pidgey didn't seem too troubled. Sure, he'd taken some damage, but it wasn't the devastating damage that Eve had hoped the type advantage would give. _Are Basil's electric attacks really that weak?_

"Use thundershock again!" Eve ordered. Unlike Hannah's battle, Basil's best bet was to keep on firing off electric attacks.

"Pidgey, quick attack!" Faulkner shouted. The pidgey's attack hit almost before Basil could react. His concentration broken, Basil was unable to use his thundershock as quickly as he had been planning. However, the electricity that he'd gathered in his fur in preparation for the attack didn't go unused. As the pidgey returned to his own side of the field, Eve saw that the bird's movements were jerky. Occasionally, he'd drop a ways before he could get his wings moving again.

_Paralysis._

"Pidgey is paralyzed, so this is the perfect chance for another thundershock!" Eve ordered. Basil started to accumulate more electricity in his fur.

"Pidgey, don't let it attack!" Faulkner shouted out. "Gust again!"

Basil was forced to cut off his attack and crouch down as the wind hit him. This time he managed to stay put, though the winds that buffeted him dealt damage all the same.

"Basil, can you fire off a thundershock through the wind?" Eve shouted, trying to make herself heard over the high-speed gusts.

Basil slid back a few feet. ~No! Right now it's taking all my strength just to stay on the ground!~

Faulkner grinned satisfactorily. "Pidgey, if you can keep it up despite the paralysis, then crank up the wind speed."

"Basil, do you want to switch out?" Eve asked as the pidgey flapped harder and the wind increased. "Hannah can still battle."

The pichu cried out in frustration. ~No, don't! I am _not_ going to lose while that idiot Katsu is watching! I think that now's the time!~

"The time for wha…" Eve trailed off as Basil's body began to glow faintly with electrical power. Starting gradually and then moving more quickly, Eve noticed his appearance changing. His ears became narrower, his body widened, and the color of his body brightened considerably. Most notably, his already long tail grew even longer as it became more jagged.

Meanwhile, the pidgey's paralysis had forced him to stop his attack and land on the ground. So as soon as Basil's transformation was complete, he was able to stand up and look his new form over thoroughly without the threat of gale-force winds. Almost everyone in the room was also gawking over the pikachu now on the field, including Faulkner; it certainly wasn't every day that you get to see a pokémon evolve.

However, Basil didn't seem too happy with what he saw. His long ears drooped down in disappointment. ~What in the heck! I'm still the same size! I know I was small, even for a pichu, but I'm pretty sure my parents were close to twice as tall as this! What a rip off!~ He shook himself, both literally and figuratively. ~Ah, well. I guess I'll just have to finish off the match anyway. I'm awaiting your orders, Eve!~

"Oh, right!" Eve said, coming to her senses. "Basil, use thundershock!"

Faulkner quickly roused himself as well. "Pidgey, try to fly-" It was already too late, though. The thundershock hit dead on, and it was at least somewhat more powerful than Basil's previous electric attacks. And with the pidgey already weak from the paralysis and exhausted from keeping up those gust attacks, that thundershock attack was enough to end it.

"Pidgey is unable to battle, and so the challenger wins!"

Eve smiled, glad that she'd won despite the fact that the spearow and pidgey had been hurt in the process. She quickly let out Hannah so that she could join in the celebration, and then she dashed onto the battlefield and picked up the newly-evolved pikachu.

"Basil! You finally decided to evolve! But are you sure you're happy about this?" Eve asked. "I don't want you to change yourself just so we can win a silly battle."

~Oh, _now _you tell me,~ Basil joked as he curled up in Eve's arms. After all that attacking and being attacked, Eve could tell that he was completely exhausted. ~But no, I was sure about it. Though seeing as I don't think I grew _at all_, I'm starting to wonder if I don't regret it, at least a little. I think I've lost some of my charming adorableness.~

Eve hugged the pikachu tightly. "I assure you, you are still completely and absolutely cute. Maybe now more than ever."

Eve's heartwarming moment was cut short as Faulkner and the judge marched up to her. "I still cry 'fowl' in that first match up, and please excuse the pun," Faulkner said. "And is it legal to have your pokémon evolve during a battle?"

"That is legal, yes," the judge assured. "After all, it is still the same pokémon, with the same amount of damage. However, I would like to know how that spearow got poisoned. Unless you can make me believe your strategy, I may have to rule the entire battle null-and-void."

"No, please don't!" Eve said. "We worked so hard to perfect that strategy. You see,Hannah creates poisonpowder in her leaf. And she throws layers of her leaf when she uses a razorleaf attack. Hannah just decided to combine the two attacks. As long as she stores enough powder in her leaf just before firing off a volley of razor leaves, then each of the leaves becomes a transporter for the poison. Throwing the leaves wide means that the poison is widely dispersed through the air. And even the slightest cut makes for an equally devastating guarantee of poison. In short, it's a long range, one-hundred percent accurate poison powder."

The judge looked at Faulkner. "I've never heard of anything like it, but it seems like a logical enough explanation. If there was any doubt about it before, I make it official now: Eve wins the match."

Faulkner stood dumbfounded for a few moments, and then a grin spread across his face. "I guess I've been outsmarted, then! Sorry if I was a bit rude about it before. I love a good match, but I hate cheaters. I guess that means," he dug a hand into his shirt's pocket and pulled out a little metal pin, "that you get this. It's the Zephyr Badge, and it proves that you beat me. Though the win is also noted in your record on the league's database of pokémon trainers, so don't try to lie and tell the next gym leader you challenge that you haven't won a badge."

"Thanks," Eve said graciously as she took the badge in one hand and cradled Basil in the other arm. _I'm glad that Faulkner isn't as angry with me as he was during the gym battle._

"By the way, it seems like I've seen your face somewhere before…" Faulkner trailed off, hoping that Eve might offer some explanation.

Eve's face turned pink. "Well, there was this article in the newspaper the other day-"

"That's right! You're the girl who can talk to pokémon, right?" Faulkner asked. "Well, that might be how you managed to come up with such an interesting strategy."

~Hey!~ Hannah protested.

"Actually, Hannah came up with the strategy herself," Eve admitted.

Faulkner shrugged. "But you wouldn't have used the strategy if you couldn't talk to pokémon and hear it in the first place, would you have? But that's not important… You see, after realizing who you are, I just had a crazy idea."

Eve looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, I've got a friend down in Azalea Town named Bugsy. He's the gym leader there, actually," Faulkner said. "There's been a little trouble with some pokémon recently in the Azalea Town area, getting sick or something like that. He's an expert in bug-types, so he actually knows quite a bit about poisons… but for the life of him, he can't figure out what's wrong. He's been asking all the gym leaders if they either have a guess as to what the problem is, or if they know of someone who might be able to help. I mean, I suppose I don't know if you're planning on taking on the rest of the gyms or not, but if you are, I bet he'd really appreciate your help."

"Actually, I really am not sure if I want to keep on challenging the gyms, though I know that my pokémon want to…" Eve said. "Still, I was planning on heading over to Ilex Forest after I'm done with school here in Violet. Isn't Azalea Town right near there?"

"Yeah, just Azalea's just south of Ilex Forest!" Faulkner said excitedly. "So you're willing to go?"

Eve nodded. "If I can help in any way, I'd be more than glad to stop by and try."

"That's great!" Faulkner said, clearly excited. "I'll call him right away and tell him that you'll be going down there sometime soon. I'm sure he'll be relieved to hear it, even if it's not a surefire remedy for the problem. Anyway, nice to meet ya' and all, and great gym battle." Faulkner and the judge walked away to another room of the gym, and so Eve finally went over and joined her friends in the bleachers.

"Hey, that was great, Eve!" Christina said. "And Rose was overawed, too, even if she's to shy to say it."

"I agree. To be honest, I wasn't sure if you could do it, Miss Atwood," Mr. Terruf said. "How did you manage to poison that spearow?" Eve went through her explanation again, making sure to give Hannah credit for coming up with the idea. Mr. Terruf frowned. "I can't say that I'm glad that you didn't come up with the strategy yourself… But either way, a win is a win. You get your extra credit."

Then Katsu came up. "I suppose I owe you another apology, then, if your pokémon came up with that idea. A real apology."

Eve scowled. "If you're apologizing to _me_, then you don't really mean it."

"Oh, fine," Katsu said, finally relenting. He looked to Hannah, then to Basil, and then back to Hannah again. "I'm sorry if I insulted you guys by ignoring you, when you obviously have some skills of your own. In the future, I'll make sure to insult you to your face. For example, Basil, do you realize that your tail is even more ridiculously disproportionate to your body than it was before?"

Eve detected the joking tone of Katsu's voice and Basil, to her relief, did as well. He repositioned himself in Eve's arms, then whacked Katsu gently across the face with his tail. ~All the better to hit you with, my dear annoying idiot.~

"He says thanks a lot," Eve interpreted. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the time. "Not again! I scheduled myself for a later work time at the pokémon center today, but if I don't hurry, I'm going to be late! Thanks everyone for coming to support me and Basil and Hannah, but I've got to run! Bye!" Eve returned her pokémon to their pokéballs and quickly dashed out of the gym.

The friends she left behind all just laughed good-naturedly; most of them had realized by now that Eve didn't always have the best grasp on timing.

"Do you think she even understands how much of an honor it is to get even a single gym badge?" Katsu asked, staring at the door.

Mr. Terruf shook his head. "I doubt it. She just wanted the extra credit. And I suppose she probably wanted to give her pokémon the chance to prove themselves, as well. She's really bright in some ways, but…"

"But totally oblivious in other ways, right?" Katsu finished. "Yeah, I figured that one out already."

* * *

So, this was another not-so-long chapter. I forget if I mentioned this last chapter, but this chapter and chapter 6 were originally together... But then they had an argument about length, decided that their relationship was over, and broke up. ^_^ Hope you enjoyed it, because this is one of the few times I'll go into a battle in great detail. For important scenes, sure, I'll keep up the battles. But I won't write any more about the volley of attacks than I have to. Next chapter, you have a new character to look forward to... But you'll have to wait until then to see who it is.

As always, I kindly request that you please review and/or answer the poll I have on my profile! It would be much appreciated! More than that, though, I just hope that you like the story. Somplease keep reading!


	8. Hope

**Chapter Eight: Hope**

"Oh, hey, wait up!" Katsu shouted.

Eve, Basil, and Hannah turned around and waited, all three puzzled as to why Katsu was on the path behind them. _I wonder what Katsu has to say that's so important that he'd follow me all the way out here? He's got my cell phone number, after all,_ Eve thought. _I've been out of Violet and on my way to Azalea for at least half an hour… If he wanted to say goodbye, why didn't he do it before I left? _

Eve greeted Katsu as he finally caught up. "You know, it seems like every time we meet, you have to say 'wait' in some form or another."

Katsu grinned. "I guess so."

"So what's up?" Eve asked, looking suspiciously at the large bag he was carrying on his back.

Katsu rubbed the back of his neck and looked off into the trees, obviously embarrassed. "Well, I've been thinking lately… You know, the entire reason I was planning on helping out with the summer school sessions back at the academy was so that I could pay for my last year there. My parents can only afford part of it, since they've still got to care for my other siblings. But since I'm paying for most of it, it's my decision whether I want to keep it up or not."

"So you're quitting your job there? Is that what you're saying?" Eve asked. "Why's that?"

"Well, I'm not sure how to put this… But you know, a lot of times, friends go on journeys together. That way if one person gets hurt, the other can go get help. Or, you know, they just do it to have a friend along… So I was wondering if maybe I could tag along with you."

Eve was completely surprised. "What? Why would you want to come along with me?"

"I figure that it'll be exciting," Katsu said, laughing. "I mean, you actually woke up unown that had been sleeping for a couple hundred years. _And_ one of your pokémon evolved in the short time I've known you, and I'd never seen an evolution before. _And_ you came up with a pretty wicked strategy for that gym battle. Or, rather, your chikorita did.

Eve looked to her chikorita and newly-evolved pikachu, both of whom were acting very hesitant about this whole proposal. ~I don't know about this,~ Basil said eventually, speaking for the both of them. ~While he may be better than before about being polite, he's doing it more to impress you than anything, I think. He's still pretty darn rude if he can get away with it. He still talks about us as if we're not here.~

Eve nodded; she was having her reservations about the idea, too, now that she'd gotten over her original surprise. "When I'm traveling in the woods…" Eve started, unsure of how to go about this. "You do realize that I talk to a lot of pokémon, right? I wouldn't want to ignore you, but since you can't understand them, that's probably what would happen."

"I don't mind," Katsu insisted. "And maybe with you around, I could meet some more grass and water types to add to my team."

"Katsu… This is why I hesitate to agree to this," Eve said, frustrated. "If you're going to come along, you can't just think of it as 'adding' pokémon to your team. If you really wanted to catch something, then I'd make you ask first to see if the pokémon even _wants_ to be captured. And right now you're only asking for my permission, even though there are two others who have a much bigger problem with you coming along than I do. Even if I agree to this, that's still two votes against my one."

"Whoops, sorry Hannah and Basil," Katsu said, crouching down to look at the two pokémon at eye-level. "I'm not quite used to talking to pokémon yet, even though Eve assures me that you understand every word I'm saying. So if I really, really try not to ignore you at all, even though I can't understand you directly, would you let me come along with you guys?"

~I don't care, as long you don't interfere with my training,~ Hannah said, and Eve interpreted.

Basil was more reluctant. ~I don't know… I still get the feeling that he doesn't really mean it. I mean, he'll pretend like he's respecting us, but in his head he'll be thinking how silly it is.~

Eve translated this for Katsu's sake, then added, "I think Basil's right. So while I appreciate even the pretend, you'd have to keep on trying to see things my way. And I mean _really_ see things."

"With you talking to pokémon all the time, I doubt that will be a problem," Katsu said. "It'll be hard for me to avoid asking myself the question of just how smart pokémon are. And if it makes you feel any better, I also promise that I won't catch a pokémon unless it gives me permission first. And if I fail to uphold all these promises, then you can kick me out of the group whenever you want to."

Basil trailed his tail back and forth in the dirt, the pikachu equivalent to a sigh. ~As long as we've got an option for getting rid of him, I suppose I can't say no…~

Eve frowned. "Okay, Basil agrees reluctantly, but it's still a yes," she said, not entirely happy herself. "That means you can come along, but you'd better stick to your promises."

Katsu fingered out the shape of an 'X' on his chest. "Cross my heart."

"Fine, then, let's get going," Eve said, still unsure how she felt about this sudden change in plans. "We're heading to Violet City first; I did tell you about the request I got from Faulkner, right?" She asked as she diverged from the path and started trekking through the trees.

'Yeah… But would you tell me why we aren't following the path all of a sudden?" Katsu asked, obviously concerned. "I mean, the path leads straight to Violet City."

"Not straight there, actually," Eve corrected. "_We'll_ be heading straight there, by cutting through the woods. Plus, I get to meet a lot more pokémon on the way there, and it's always interesting to hear what they have to say."

Katsu didn't seem very comforted. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

~Okay, I'm already regretting letting him into the group,~ Basil said. ~Let's kick him out now, before we get any farther away from Violet City.~

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a good idea," Eve responded to Katsu's question, letting Basil's comment go unsaid. "I've got a good sense of direction, and the pokémon that live here know their way around well enough. Speaking of which, here come some now." Eve waved happily as a couple of Aipom approached, swinging through the trees using their tails.

~Oh, hey! It's the girl those pidgey were telling everyone about!~ one of the aipom said. ~Or, at least, I guess it is. Are you the girl that traveled with some pidgey a while back?~

"I guess that's me," Eve admitted. "So the pidgey told you about me?"

~Yeah. They told _everyone _about you. It was the biggest news in the forest for a while, though it's died down a bit since then,~ the other aipom said. ~But who's the other human you have with you? The pidgey didn't mention anyone else.~

~Don't worry about _him_,~ Basil said. ~He's just a silly human who can't do anything by himself. That's why he decided to tag along with Eve.~

Katsu looked up at the aipom in wonder, oblivious to the pikachu's comment. "So pokémon come up to you, just like that? Most other people have to really search in order to find a pokémon." Katsu watched as some sunkern hopped in from another direction, and then asked excitedly, "Hey, do you think you could ask them if I could catch them?"

The sunkern, well within hearing distance, looked plainly annoyed at being talked about as if they weren't there. Eve let out an exasperated breath, joining their annoyance. "This is going to be a _long_ trip," she groaned.

Hannah looked back and forth from the overly critical Basil to the unwittingly rude Katsu. ~You know what? I couldn't agree with you more.~

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The day passed slowly for Eve. Basil toned down his criticisms somewhat when he saw how exasperated they made Eve, so at least she didn't have to worry about that for long. Katsu, on the other hand, stayed as annoying as ever. Almost any time a water or grass type pokémon appeared, Katsu would ask Eve if she would ask the pokémon for a ownership battle. Very rarely did a pokémon agree to this; being captured was a huge part of why pokémon went to such lengths to avoid humans.

Eventually, a lone paras who liked to battle took up the challenge and promptly lost to Katsu's totodile. Eve didn't like it, but the paras had made the agreement, so there was nothing she could do when Katsu sealed the little fungus-infested bug away in a pokéball.

It wasn't until the second day of traveling that Katsu seemed to realize how annoying he was being, and he promptly cut down on his talking. If there was a pokémon he wanted, then he still asked about it; but he stopped doing so with _every _pokémon that he saw, which Eve found to be a huge relief. He also stopped asking what Eve and the pokémon were talking about, which he'd done about every other minute on the first day's travel.

By the afternoon of this second day, he'd ended up simply following behind Eve, only making the occasional comment when he deemed it prudent.

And almost as soon as he stopped being so annoying, Eve talked to him more. She was a _lot _more willing to be friendly once she wasn't so annoyed. Even so, trying to juggle conversations between Katsu and the pokémon was awkward, partly because the pokémon more often then not interjected their owncomments into the human dialogues. Katsu didn't realize this, of course, but Eve still had to do her best to compensate for communication differences.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Could I interrupt for a minute?" Katsu asked after a long while of silence. The second day of traveling was passing much more quickly than the first, and the tall trees that surrounded the group made the late afternoon seem almost like dusk.

Eve excused herself from her conversation with a newly arrived hoothoot. "Yeah, what's up? Is something wrong?"

"Well… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

~For what?~ Hannah wondered. ~He's been much more tolerable today than he was yesterday.~

Eve echoed Hannah's question, though without the comment about his relatively lower level of annoyance.

Katsu answered, "It's just that I've been thinking about how I sort of forced you to let me travel with you. And I realize now how irritating I've probably been to have around. Am I right?"

~Pretty dead on, if you ask me,~ Basil said as he walked along.

"Basil!" Eve chided, temporarily ignoring Katsu. "I don't want a pikachu with me that can't at least try to be nice."

Sparks of shame crackled from the red spots on Basil's cheeks. ~Sorry. It's just so tempting when he can't even hear what I say.~

"All the more reason to avoid comments like that. If you can't say it to his face, then I don't think you should say it at all." Eve sighed, then turned back to Katsu to answer his question. "To be honest, it is kind of bothersome to have you around. I'm used to having pokémon around when there are mostly humans, but I'm _not _used to having a human around while I'm having full conversations with pokémon."

"I knew it," Katsu said glumly. "Do you want me to head back to Violet? I can tell that I'm not really needed here."

Eve shook her head. "No, not at all! I'm just not used to it, is all, and you've been getting much better about knowing when it's not rude for you to disrupt a conversation. And while I maybe don't need your help navigating my way through forests or anything, I'm hopeless with cities. Even with a good map, I get completely lost. As long as you're still up for accompanying me, it'd be great to have you along so that I don't get too lost trying to find a pokémon center."

"Are you sure?"

Eve smiled kindly. "Basil might not be, but I'm positive about it. At least, for now I am. For Basil's sake, I don't want to guarantee how long it'll stay that way."

~Well, he _is _getting better,~ Basil admitted. ~As long as you're okay having him around, then I guess I'll be able to endure it, at least for a while. And tell him that I really am sorry about all my remarks about him, even if he couldn't hear me.~

Katsu accepted the apology when Eve translated, and then Eve continued, "I'm glad that whole situation is worked out somewhat. So now, let's all… Wait, what was that?" Eve looked closely at the forest ahead of them_. I could have sworn that she saw a flash of reddish light somewhere among the bushes just now…_

"I didn't see anything," Katsu said. "Then again, I wasn't looking that hard, either."

~I definitely heard something,~ Basil said. ~Do you want to go check it out? It could be interesting.~

Eve picked up her pace slightly. "Yeah, my curiosity has been piqued. Let's go find out what's going on."

The group moved forward and eventually came upon a small clearing. At its edge was a teenage girl looking intently at a pokéball in her hand, though she looked up as Eve and her friends approached. Three pokémon – hers, presumably – were gathered near her, and each stared suspiciously at the new arrivals.

The girl was a very interesting sight, not only due to the fact that very rarely would trainers head this far off the path in search of pokémon. Her clothing was one of her oddities; her outfit consisted of some dark camouflage cargo pants and a loose brown and black t-shirt. On her hands she had fingerless gloves, and her right wrist had a rather bulky bracelet that looked almost exactly like a small slinky, except for the fact that it held three pokéballs within its coils. Overall, it was neither the most stylish nor the most practical of outfits.

Even stranger was the girl's face and hair, both of which looked downright exotic. The shape of her face was almost angular, and her large dark eyes seemed abnormally bright. The wetness of her eyes combined with the almost sorrowful expression on her face made it almost seem as if she was crying, though she seemed completely void of emotion. Her short, almost shoulder-length hair was black with an almost iridescent tint of purple to it (which, against all logic, actually seemed to be her hair's natural color), and both her bangs and the ends of her hair had a very jagged styling.

Something about the girl gave Eve the creeps. Maybe it was the half-lidded look to her eyes, or maybe it was her overall gloomy outfit. Actually, creepy wasn't exactly how Eve would describe her. But something about this girl definitely sent chills down Eve's spine, while at the same time making Eve sad for no particular reason. The sensation reminded her of the feeling she would get when she would pass homeless people on the streets of Violet City: sort of uncomfortable, yet deeply sorry that she couldn't really do much to help.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Katsu said to the teenaged girl, trying to be friendly. "We were just passing by, and we were curious about what was going on. Did you just capture a pokémon? Oh, and I'm Katsu, by the way."

"And I'm Eve," Eve said at Katsu's prompting.

The girl continued to stare at the two new arrivals for a couple of moments, keeping the same lifeless expression on her face. "Yes. I captured a pokémon," she said eventually, with no emotion in her voice.

Katsu frowned slightly, mistaking her coldness as hostility. "What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?" he said, still trying to be cordial.

"Hope."

"Did you catch the pokémon with those ones? They are yours, right?" Katsu said, looking down at the marowak, houndour, and sneasel that were grouped near Hope's feet. Katsu was desperately trying to keep up the conversation, even if it seemed to be unwanted by Hope. Eve, for her part, was staying silent; her first unsettling impression of Hope remained, and she wasn't sure what to say.

Hope looked down at the trio of pokémon. "They're mine. But they didn't help me catch the spinarak."

"So how did you catch it, then?" Katsu said, visibly annoyed by Hope's unwillingness to say anything except in answer to a direct question.

"It came to me," Hope responded. "Something is wrong with it."

Now that was enough to get Eve into the conversation. "What's wrong with it? Is it injured?"

"It isn't injured as far as I can tell. I suppose I'll figure it out eventually, though," Hope said.

"Please, would you let me try talking to the spinarak, then?" Eve asked, worried about the pokémon. _If the spinarak really did come to Hope freely and uninjured, then how did she know something was wrong with it?_ Eve wondered. Yet as strange as Hope was, Eve was certain that she was telling the truth, even if the story seemed a bit farfetched.

When Hope didn't respond, Eve continued, "I can understand pokémon, you see. Maybe I can help out the spinarak. It could just tell me what's wrong."

Hope stared silently at Eve for a few seconds, as if trying to determine whether this was a joke or not. Then, without saying a word, she released the spinarak from its pokéball.

Eve took that as permission enough, and so she knelt down. "Spinarak, your human says that there's something wrong with you. Would you mind telling me what it is so that we might be able to help?" Eve noted sadly that the female spinarak looked unusually thin, and her legs trembled badly as she tried to hold herself up off the ground.

The spinarak shuddered, obviously saddened by whatever thoughts Eve's question brought to mind. ~I can't produce any poison,~ she eventually admitted. The shame in her demeanor was obvious. ~I'm great at making webs… Improving my skill at that was the only way I could survive this long. But even the best webs don't help if I can't poison any prey that's larger than me, which is pretty much everything. I couldn't keep going on like that... And then I saw this trainer, and I chose the only option I had left. I was desperate.~

Eve reached out her hand and gently stroked the spinarak's head. "That's terrible. I can't say that I know what to do about it, even though I've helped with healing pokémon for several years now. But maybe your new trainer can help. I'll ask her now." Eve stood up and faced Hope. "The spinarak doesn't have any poison. She can't bring down opponents by herself. That's why she came to you. Do you know anything that could help that?"

"Some nightshade leaves mixed in with its food should do the trick. Hemlock might also work. Either one should put the poison back in the spinarak's system," Hope said unconcernedly.

Eve looked at Hope in horror. "You can't possibly do that! I've seen plenty enough pokémon die from injesting nightshade, and I know hemlock is just as bad. You'd be poisoning your own pokémon!"

"Even if it can't make its own poison, any spinarak should be able to metabolize toxins easily enough," Hope replied apathetically. "Of course, it might die. It'll die eventually, whether I feed it poison or not. Does it really matter if its life ends now or later?"

Eve found herself unable to respond immediately. _How could anyone say something like that? And she acts as if it's just an obvious fact of life. She looks so young, and yet her view on the world is already so jaded… She's taller than me, but I doubt she's any older than eighteen. _"Yes, it does really matter!" Eve said. "I should think that every life has value enough to be kept living for as long as possible."

Hope shrugged tiredly, recalled the bug to her pokéball, and then began to walk off without another word. Her marowak, houndour, and sneasel followed solemnly behind her.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!" Katsu suddenly shouted out, surprising Eve. Hope stopped, but didn't turn around. "Do you have any manners whatsoever? Eve just told you exactly what was wrong with your pokémon, and you don't thank her at all?"

Hope stayed where she was, but she neither turned around nor responded.

Katsu clenched his fists. "How about this, then? A one-on-one battle, you and me. No money wagered, but if I win, you don't poison your spinarak."

Basil trailed his tail in the dirt and spoke up. ~You know, he's just doing this because he's angry with that girl. He doesn't give a magikarp's whisker whether or not that spinarak lives.~ Eve only frowned in response, mainly because she felt that this accusation was justly deserved.

Hope finally pivoted to face Katsu, a slight smirk on her face. Even this change in expression seemed empty to Eve's eyes, as if Katsu's challenge was something bittersweet.

"I always welcome training," Hope said, the sad smirk still apparent. "You can choose your pokémon first. Or, if you'd prefer, I could make my choice first. I'll win either way." She said this last bit without sounding boastful in the least; she seemed to think her win a solid, unavoidable fact.

Katsu gritted his teeth, still angry at Hope's nonchalance. "I'll prove you wrong on that count," Katsu said defiantly, sending out his totodile.

~That's a good idea,~ Hannah said in response to Katsu's choice of pokémon. ~Tsutaja is weak to two of that girl's three pokémon; totodile is weak to none of them, and strong against two of them.~

"If that's the case, then you're up, houndour." Hope's houndour stepped forward, tensing itself for battle.

"What kind of person sends out a fire type against a totodile?" Katsu said skeptically. "No matter how strong you think your pokémon are, that's a stupid move." Hope said nothing, making Katsu all the angrier. "If that's how you're going to be, then I'll take the first move. Totodile, water gun!"

"Dodge and tackle," Hope said flatly.

Eve watched the female houndour dodge nimbly out of the way and then run forward, and Eve marveled at the fluid movements. The houndour's muscles moved her towards her quarry more quickly than Eve would have imagined, betraying the sheer muscle power housed within her four legs. _I should have guessed as much when I saw that Hope had an evolved pokémon with her, _Eve thought to herself._ Those pokémon of hers are definitely strong. I've never glorified strength as some people do, and yet it's almost awe-inspiring to watch this houndour in action. All the ones I've met were slow and klutzy compared to this._

Katsu seemed to sense the difference in power as well. "Totodile, keep the water going and adjust to the left!"

"Jump over the water and keep heading for your target." The houndour jumped easily over the stream of water and continued on with her original tackle attack. Totodile tried instinctively to cut off his attack so that he could dodge, but he was too slow. The houndour plowed into Katsu's totodile at full speed, sending the water pokémon flying backward.

Eve grimaced, and both of her pokémon flinched as they saw the impact. ~That looked painful,~ Hannah commented. Eve nodded in agreement.

"Totodile, stand your ground and use leer!" The totodile forced himself to his feet, then followed his trainer's order.

"Houndour, close the space between you and the totodile, then finish it off with a bite attack."

Katsu grinned triumphantly. "Wait until the last moment, then use water gun!" he said.

The houndour was moving too quickly towards Totodile for Hope to give a command to counter Katsu's order. The houndour plowed forward, only to be hit face-first by the water gun. The attack didn't throw back the houndour, however. In fact, the houndour simply continued to move forward, slowed but not stopped by the continuous jet of water. The fire-type soon had her jaws firmly clenched around Totodile's neck. Totodile cut off his attack, unable to keep the spout of water going while in pain.

The houndour shook Totodile back and forth before throwing him off to one side. Eve could see blood trickling down Totodile's neck from where the fangs had punctured and torn his tough skin.

"That's enough," Eve said quietly, too shocked to speak up more. _I've seen pokémon fight each other before, of course… But it's terrible to think that this came about as a fight between the people, not the pokémon._ Eve rushed over to Totodile and pulled some bandages out of her bag.

"What are you doing!" Katsu said. "My totodile can still keep going, and now that I know the houndour's speed and strength, I should be able to win. Don't interfere with someone else's pokémon battle!"

Hope just stood and stared, but her houndour looked positively ashamed. Despite the direct water gun attack, only the slight trembling of the fire-type indicated any sort of damage.

~Miss, please let me fight,~ Totodile said, moving away from Eve as she attempted to bandage him. ~If Katsu wants me to keep battling, then I'll keep battling. Even if I lose, it's the only way to get stronger.~

A tear fell from Eve's eye, and she looked up at Katsu. "You need to recognize when you're outmatched. Maybe you can't see it as well as I can, or maybe you're just upset that your water-type is being beaten by a fire-type. Either way, all three of Hope's pokémon are miles above your own in strength." Then Eve turned to Hope. "And I can't believe that you would use such a damaging attack on an opponent. The bite itself is powerful enough for a battle; shaking Totodile only created needless wounds."

The smirk left Hope's face, though her emotions – or lack thereof – seemed to remain the same. "I wouldn't battle if I didn't mean to defeat the opponent. I won't aim to kill or maim, but only because that causes too much trouble. Anything short of that is fair game. The totodile will heal quickly enough."

"But you could have won the battle easily enough without it. What's the point in causing that much unnecessary pain?"

"What's the point in avoiding unnecessary pain?" Hope questioned back, her tone of voice as neutral as ever. Though she remained unemotional, Eve sensed that perhaps she wasn't just saying this to defend her actions. _Maybe this is where my initial pity for her was coming from… Maybe she's had her share of pain in life. Maybe she's trying to numb herself to pain by witnessing as much of it as possible._

Katsu recalled Totodile to his pokéball. "That's enough discussion," he said, seeing how unnerved Eve was. "I still don't think you should've interrupted our battle, Eve, but I'll admit that my totodile probably would have lost. I forfeit the battle." He moved forward so that he could talk to Hope without raising his voice too much. "I've got to admit, you have some very strong pokémon there. How old are you, anyway?"

"Seventeen."

"And how long have you had your pokémon?"

"I've had the marowak twelve years, though he was a cubone when we started training. I've had the houndour and sneasel for seven years each," Hope replied.

Katsu whistled appreciatively. He certainly seemed a lot more civil now that he'd been outmatched. "Well, if you've been training them all that time, then no wonder I lost. I've only been training my two main pokémon for four years. Do you have any gym badges?"

"Four Kanto badges, and one from Johto."

"Wow," Katsu said, now overawed. "Kanto has the same progressive gym system as Johto does, so that means that you're only three battles away from being as strong as a gym leader… That's crazy. You must have some very good training methods if you're that strong. Any chance you'd let me in on the secret?"

Hope looked down at her three pokémon, and they looked up to her silently. "I need to show the spinarak our training anyway, I suppose. It's no use taking him onto my team if he dislikes my training methods. You can watch while it watches." Hope let the spinarak out from her pokéball. Eve picked up the poor spinarak without bothering to ask for permission. Hope continued, "I suggest all of you step back. And spinarak, this is what we'll be doing every day; if you don't like it, I'll release you or give you to these two people. Now houndour, marowak, and sneasel: starting positions."

Hope and her three pokémon spread out so that they were each at opposite edges of the clearing. Eve watched curiously as she hugged the spinarak to her chest; other than her own improvised training and some of the methods she'd learned in class, training wasn't a topic that she knew much about.

As soon as her pokémon were in their position, Hope said, "Begin."

Eve watched with a mix of horror and awe as the four of them – the three pokémon as well as Hope herself – charged towards the center of the clearing. As they met, the charge turned into a sort of free-for-all melee of action. The marowak used his bone, which he smashed into the others whenever he had a chance. The sneasel favored his claws, though he utilized a couple of ice-type attacks as well. The houndour made use of her strong body and jaws, with an occasional ember thrown into the mix.

And Hope managed to hold her own in the fray, to Eve's amazement. Even though Hope had a clear size advantage, even untrained pokémon were generally acknowledged as more powerful than people; most humans wouldn't try to face even one pokémon, let alone three. Hope seemed very skilled in this sort of fight, though, both at taking blows and at giving them. She knew when to dodge a strong attack and in what situations it would be more appropriate to block. She slipped up only once when she was facing off against her sneasel, and the dark-type didn't hold back; blood flowed freely from the resulting gash. But even so, Hope continued to fight as if nothing had happened.

_I'm not sure if I can criticize her for her battle tactics now. At least, not in exactly the same way as before. She might be harsh, but not just to pokémon. If anything, she's harshest against herself. No matter how tough she may be, she's still just a human; doing this every day must be very painful. And she doesn't have the advantage of quick healing, like pokémon do._

After almost twenty minutes of fighting, Hope halted the brawl and began to tend to any serious wounds she and her pokémon had sustained. "Spinarak, tell the girl who's holding you what your decision is," Hope said, not looking up as she sprayed some potion onto her houndour's cuts. "I don't want to train a pokémon who doesn't wish to get stronger."

~If you can help me make poison again, I'll do whatever is needed,~ the spinarak replied.

Eve translated, and then Hope recalled the spinarak to her pokéball once again. Hope left her other pokémon outside of their pokéballs, despite how tired they must have been after so much time spent in combat.

Then, without another word, Hope turned to leave. Both Katsu and Eve watched speechlessly at first; both were still shocked by her rather extreme training methods.

But then, before she could really stop herself, Eve called out. "Wait!" She hurried over and caught up to Hope before the girl could out of the clearing.

Hope stared at Eve, her gaze neither annoyed nor curious at the request to stop. Eve wasn't exactly sure what she was doing or why she was doing it, but she found herself asking quietly, "You wouldn't happen to be going to Azalea Town, would you?"

"I'll be challenging the gym there," Hope said in answer.

"Then do you think we could travel with you there?"

~Wait, what?~ Basil said.

Hannah's leaf tensed. ~Really? I would think that you would be angry at this girl for how cruel she was in battle,~ the chikorita said, eliciting a growl from Hope's houndour.

"Don't I even get a say in this?" Katsu asked.

Eve ignored all three of her companions and waited expectantly for Hope's answer.

"Do what you want," Hope said after a few moments of silence, her voice still refusing to betray any emotion.

_Maybe she's not just hiding her opinion; perhaps she truly has absolutely no preference, _Eve thought briefly.

Hope continued,"I'll keep to my own pace, though, no matter how fast or slow you may wish to go."

"That's fine," Eve said.

Katsu objected. "Eve, exactly why are we tagging along with her? We were doing just fine on our own. No offense meant, Hope."

Hope started to walk off, not bothering to wait for the argument to be resolved. Eve followed without a second thought. "You know how some pokémon will sort of blindly follow something else, even if it's a human or another species of pokémon?" Eve said to Katsu.

"Yeah," Katsu replied, following hesitantly. "It's called imprinting; baby pokémon are the best known for it."

"I'm not sure how to put this, but… I kind of have a tendency to do that, too. At least, Professor Elm thought that I unconsciously mimic that habit," Eve answered. "With both people and pokémon, sometimes I'll just take an immediate liking to someone. Almost like admiration, I guess, even if there's nothing immediately apparent that I'd like. It's actually what happened with both Basil and me, strangely enough. Even though Basil had two brothers who were also really fun to be around, he was the only one I was really inseparable from. And Basil liked me even more than his own brothers."

Katsu looked at her quizzically. "That's kind of weird. But why did Professor Elm think your habit is based on pokémon imprinting? I know a lot of people that do the same thing, though not in the same sense that pokémon do it."

~Like you with Eve,~ Basil commented. ~You've known her for a month and you completely disagree with her views on pokémon, and yet here you are, following her through the middle of nowhere.~

Eve giggled, and then continued her explanation to Katsu before he could ask what was funny. "Well, take this case, for example. I'm completely horrified by how harsh Hope seems to be, yet for whatever reason, I couldn't just stand by as she walked away. That's why Professor Elm thought that I might imprint like pokémon do. Of course, maybe it's just that I feel kind of sorry for Hope, because she seems so sad… I really want her to be happy, for whatever reason. And I also really respect her strength, so perhaps me wanting to tag along with her isn't quite so strange," Eve said, not bothering to keep her voice down despite the fact that the person in question was well within hearing range.

Katsu looked forward to Hope and her three pokémon, but none of them acted as if they had heard.

"Am I right, Hope?" Eve said to Hope's back. "Is it sadness, or is it something else? I know that there's something that makes me feel sorry for you, but I can't figure out what."

"Eve!" Katsu said, appalled. "You shouldn't be so direct about your perceptions of people."

Eve looked at him curiously. "Really? Why not?" Katsu didn't reply immediately, so Eve turned her attention back to Hope. "Hope, would you answer my question? I mean, you don't seem to really mind anything one way or another, but if it does bother you, then you don't have to answer."

Hope continued walking, and there was a brief pause before she finally responded. "I've never felt that anything is wrong with me," she said eventually, though she neither turned around nor waited for Eve and Katsu to catch up. "But you're not the only people who have said that I have a problem. Whatever the problem may be, though, I can't even recognize it, nonetheless tell you what it is."

* * *

Before I say anything else, I would very much like to thank Yaersulf for the reviews on the last couple of chapters! As with any review, I really appreciate it! As I think I already told you, it was great to hear what you think of the story so far!

And here it comes... PLEASE REVIEW! I mean, I've had at least eleven people who either (a) have read the story up to chapter 7 or (b) decided to skip randomly to chapter seven and not read the story at all. Since I have an inclination to believe that the former option is more likely than the latter, then I can't help but think that you all like my story at least a little. I mean, if you actually have read this far, then you've had to endure constantly long chapters to get here! I should think that if you've spent the time to read this, you could at least spare a couple of minutes to review! I'd love to know what I can improve on and/or what I'm already doing well! You could also let your voice be heard via the poll at the top of my profile... Please, I want to know if these long chapters are what people really want to read!

So yeah, that's that and what not. On a completely random note, I just won a collector's tin filled with pokémon cards through a national pokémon sweepstakes! Though it wasn't the grand prize, it still made me happy. ^_^


	9. Speeding Through Life

**Chapter Nine: Speeding Through Life**

Eve tentatively walked through the doors of Azalea's gym, followed closely Hope and Katsu. It hadn't been until earlier that morning when the group had first arrived in Azalea that Eve had realized she had no idea where to meet this Bugsy person that Faulkner had mentioned. _But if he's a gym leader_, Eve had reasoned,_ then it would make sense for him to be here. Otherwise, I don't know what to do… I don't even know where these sick pokémon are._

"Hello? Can I help you?" The receptionist to the gym asked as she brushed her blond hair out of her face to inspect the arrivals. "You do realize that the gym leader isn't receiving any challengers right now; he's busy with other matters."

"Actually, that's why I'm here," Eve said. "I talked with Faulkner a couple of days ago, and he thought I could help with the problem… whatever it is. No one's really told me anything about it. Faulkner said he'd call Bugsy and tell him I was coming."

The receptionist brightened. "That's great to hear. Bugsy's been very occupied with the mysterious slowpoke sickness, to the point that I've had to turn all gym challengers away. And you know trainers… Separate them from their battles and I'm never sure what they'll do."

"No gym battle…" Hope said to herself, loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Perhaps I should head to the next town."

Hope shook her head. "I bet I'll have it sorted out by the end of today, and then Bugsy will be able to battle again. Just wait and see." Hope shrugged indifferently; Eve took that as agreement, so she turned back to the receptionist. "So where are the sick slowpoke? I'm supposing Bugsy is with them now, right?"

"Yes, Bugsy is at Slowpoke Well right now, with several other people who have been looking into the issue," the receptionist confirmed. "Just head east down Main Street. The well is on the north side of the road once you get farther out of town."

"All right, I'll get right to it!" Eve said. "Thanks for the directions!"

"Good luck!" the lady said encouragingly as Eve and her friends exited the building.

As Eve, Katsu, and Hope headed to the well, Katsu commented, "Well, if the slowpoke are sick, then no wonder all the people in town are worried. The slowpoke here are practically worshipped."

"And why's that?" Eve asked.

"Well, I learned about it at the academy in our pokémon-human relation studies," Katsu explained. "The people here believe that a slowpoke's yawn stopped a drought nearly 400 years ago, so the slowpoke at the well have always been respected. It's such a strong belief that after the Team Rocket incident nearly twenty years ago, they completely outlawed capture of or injury to the slowpoke."

"What happened with Team Rocket?" Eve asked.

Katsu waved his hand as if brushing the matter aside. "The whole thing was blown way out of proportion. There was no law about the slowpoke at that time, so Team Rocket felt perfectly in their rights to farm slowpoke tails, which are a delicacy in many places. The tails grow back, so it's not like they were really hurt or anything."

Eve suddenly stopped walking, aghast at what Katsu was saying. She felt her heart rate elevate slightly in what she knew was unreasonable fear. _But is it really that unreasonable?_ she thought, ignoring Katsu as he stopped and asked if something was wrong. _If he can disregard the dignity of pokémon life so much, then how am I supposed to feel comfortable around him? He makes it sound as if he would do the same thing as Team Rocket, under the right circumstances. And even if he only feels that way towards pokémon, it scares me to hear him talk like this… I wish that I didn't have Basil in his pokéball right now. I almost feel like I need protection. _Unconsciously, she stepped closer to Hope, putting her partly in between herself and Katsu. Hope, for her part, acted completely disinterested in the conversation.

"What's wrong?" Katsu repeated, looking worriedly at Eve.

Eve brought herself to her senses and quickly walked past Katsu, refusing to meet his eyes. "I'm okay… I think," she said without turning around. "Just don't worry about it."

"Are you upset at what Team Rocket did?" Katsu asked. "Admittedly, they did some really horrible stuff back when they were a criminal organization. But they stopped their criminal activities years ago, and what's done is done. Slowpoke don't even react to pain, so it's not as if they felt anything."

Eve shook her head slightly and picked up her pace to keep herself ahead of Katsu. "You're wrong," she said, her voice wavering slightly out of the irrational dread she now had towards Katsu. "I've talked with slowpoke before. They feel pain; they simply react to it in a way that's too slow and too minor for a human to really notice. And when I talked to a slowpoke who had only a stub for a tail, he said that losing it had been the most painful thing he had ever felt. He hadn't even _wanted _it to grow back, for fear of it happening again."

Silence was Katsu's answer to this revelation, and Eve stubbornly refused to look backwards to see if his face would show how he really felt. Neither of the two was anxious to start a new conversation, and Hope had no interest in talking; so the trio walked on without conversation.

After nearly ten minutes of this quiet march down the road – which, once outside of the city, was more of a slender path through the woods – Eve had finally managed to calm her unnecessary fear from before. Even so, she was still startled when a young teen with a caterpie on his shoulder jumped out from behind a nearby tree, shouting, "Hi! You're Eve, right? Kara – she's the receptionist at the gym – just called me and told me you were coming. I'm Bugsy, the gym leader here in Azalea Town."

After a moment of shock, Eve managed to respond. "Yes, I'm Eve. Nice to meet you, though you could've avoided scaring me half to death," She said, letting out a sigh as she tried to lower her pulse. She looked at him more closely. "Are you really the gym leader, though? I mean, I thought Faulkner was young, but how old are you?"

Bugsy grinned proudly. "I'll take that as a compliment. I'm actually fifteen – youngest person to become a gym leader in the history of Johto. _And _the only person to do so with a specialization in bug-types. So who do you have with you?"

"I'm Katsu; I'm traveling with Eve, for the moment being," Katsu replied, glad to be able to join the conversation. He waited for Hope to introduce herself, but when he realized she had no intention of doing so, he quickly added, "And next to me is Hope, another friend of Eve's. We're both hoping to battle with you, but of course that'll have to wait until this whole mess with the slowpoke is settled."

Bugsy scowled slightly. "Yeah, battling has to wait. I've lived in Azalea all my life, and the slowpoke are the heart and soul of this town. Everyone hates seeing them in pain. So let's hurry. The well is just up the road another quarter of a mile or so."

"So what exactly is wrong with the slowpoke?" Eve asked. "I know they're sick, but no one has told me anything else yet."

"If we knew what was wrong, we wouldn't need you here," Bugsy said. "On the surface, it appears they're sick. Their metabolisms have sped up, which is normally how a slowpoke's body responds to the effects of most of the viruses that can affect them. It's like a runny nose for us. But absolutely nothing else is wrong with them; they're still eating, sleeping, and living normally, other than their faster movement. This has been going on for a few months, and after a while, we stopped worrying."

Katsu spoke up. "So why are you worrying again now?"

"They started dying," Bugsy said, a new hint of sadness in his voice. "Individuals who are healthy other than the high metabolism have just up and died. The count is at ten now, out of about two hundred slowpoke total. If the other sixty who are sick die, then the population won't recover for at least 500 years. And that's a conservative estimate. Slowpoke take a long time to do everything; a single egg can take up to two years to hatch."

"Well, I'm ready to help in any way I can," Eve said.

Bugsy smiled again. "I'm glad to hear it, even if I'm still not entirely sure if I believe what Faulkner said about you."

"What did he say?" Eve asked.

"He said you can talk to pokémon. That can't be true, can it?" Bugsy asked.

"Oh, that," Eve said sheepishly. "It's true, that I guarantee. You'll see once I start talking with the slowpoke. Or I could have a conversation with your caterpie while we walk, if you like," Eve said, looking at the caterpie on Bugsy's shoulder who had remained silent this whole time.

~I'd like that,~ the caterpie said. ~I always get to listen in on my human's conversations, but I never get to have any of my own.~

"Maybe some other time," Bugsy replied. "But right now, we have work to do. We've made it to Slowpoke Well, after all."

Eve looked around for a few seconds, wondering what Bugsy could be talking about. She was expecting a big entrance or sign to such an important place. It wasn't until Bugsy actually turned off the road and started walking down a barely-visible path that Eve caught sight of their destination.

In all reality, Slowpoke Well was little more than a tiny stone well at the bottom of a large dip in the land. As Eve followed Bugsy and their little group got closer, however, she saw there was a little bit more to it than that. It wasn't really a well; one section of the circular wall was completely gone, revealing a ladder that went down to the caves where the slowpoke lived.

Bugsy went down this ladder first, followed by Eve, then Katsu, then Hope. Eve became a bit disconcerted the farther down into the well she went; the only light came from the entrance, so by the time they made it to the bottom, Eve could see only the faint outlines of the people around her. Bugsy quickly remedied that problem by sending out a volbeat, whose tailglow quickly lit up the area about ten feet in any direction.

"The main chamber is farther up this way," Bugsy said as the light revealed that they were in more of a tunnel than a cave. "The rest of the people working on the issue are up there, and they have lights and stuff set up already. Come on."

It didn't take long for the group to make their journey through the moist tunnels and into the largest cave. They were greeted almost immediately by a group of about five people, all of whom were dressed for the chilling conditions in the cave. Now that they were in the cave itself, Eve noted that Bugsy, too, was dressed in long pants and a long sleeve shirt. _I wish I was wearing something other than jean shorts and a short sleeved shirt,_ Eve thought ruefully.

Slowpoke were scattered all over the cavern floor, lit by small battery lamps that were placed strategically within the chamber. Most were doing the things that slowpoke do best: sleeping, fishing, drifting in the pools, and being otherwise inactive. Some, however, were doing something that Eve had never even _imagined_ a slowpoke doing: running.

Eve's marveling at this strange behavior was interrupted as a tall lady with brunette hair and light brown eyes come forward and shook her hand. "You're Eve, I presume?" she asked, and without waiting for an answer, she continued, "Bugsy told us everything that Faulkner told him. And I've heard more about you from the nurses in Cherrygrove and Violet. We really hope that you'll be able to have some sort of breakthrough. I'm Rachel, by the way. I'm the head nurse here in Azalea." Rachel quickly announced the names of the four other people in the cave.

"Everyone here is either an expert on medicine or someone experienced in interacting with the slowpoke of Azalea," Bugsy said as soon as Eve had finished with all the introductions. "If there's anything we can do to help, or anything that you need to know, just ask. At this point, we've already exhausted all of our own ideas."

Eve thought for a moment, toying with her braid of wartortle and human hair. _If wartortle hair really helps convey wisdom… then help me figure out what's going on here. I want to help, if I can._ "Before I actually ask the slowpoke about the sickness, I do have a couple of questions. Firstly, Bugsy told me that the hyperactivity is the human equivalent to a runny nose. So what causes that? Like, I know that shivers in humans is a way to generate more heat… What's the purpose of being more active?"

Rachel was the one to answer. "Well, it's not actually a defense mechanism of the body like a runny nose or shivers. Do you know how viruses work? Many kinds invade host cells and reproduce whenever new cells are made. However, regular viruses that use this method die before a slowpoke cell actually regenerates, so the viruses that can effectively work in a slowpoke's body have found ways to first invade neurons in the brain to speed up metabolic processes."

Eve rubbed her forehead. "I'm don't really get all that… Could you explain it more simply?"

An old man in the group spoke up. "She's just saying that the virus causes the slowpoke to move more quickly. It's not a way for the slowpoke to fight off the virus, as your example of shivers does for humans."

"So how does it still relate to the concept of a runny nose, then?" Eve asked.

"Both a runny nose and the higher metabolism aren't what actually does the damage to the host," Rachel explained. "They're just signs that something else is going wrong in the body."

"In that case, have you seen if other viruses with the same effect have anything in common?" Eve asked.

"Tried it," one of the guys in the group said. "There's nothing in particular that's similar in most of those sicknesses."

Eve sighed. "I'll just have to hope that the slowpoke have some idea of what's going on, then." Eve walked away from the group and into the center of the cavern. "Hey, all slowpoke that are sick!" she shouted. "Would you all mind meeting up here for a second? I'm hoping that I might be able to help the humans help you."

The slowpoke hurried over with surprising speed, and some of the non-afflicted ones came as well, albeit more slowly. They stayed away from the main group of sick pokémon, though, as if to help Eve in distinguishing which was which.

When it seemed that all of the sick slowpoke in the area had gathered, Eve knelt down and put out her hand to one of the bolder slowpoke in the front of the group. "May I?"

The slowpoke moved forward and rubbed his head against her hand. ~How do you think you can help us?~ he asked, his question surprisingly fast-paced compared to that of the multiple slowpoke whom she had known back at home.

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I can do to help," Eve said. "It all depends on how much you guys know about what's going on. If you can tell me anything that the humans don't already know, then maybe they'll finally be able to come up with some solution."

~Well, whatever's wrong has been wrong for years,~ the slowpoke said as he positioned himself for Eve to scratch his back. ~I don't think the humans noticed it until recently. We didn't notice it until ten years ago. We've been gradually speeding up over the time before and since then.~

Eve moved one of her hands away from his back and started playing with the twitching tip of his tail. "Do you fell odd in any way other than the speeding up?"

~No,~ the slowpoke said. ~Even the speeding up itself doesn't feel that bad. We were fine with it, but then our friends started dying. If we can, we'd like to get better.~ The thought of his departed friends seemed to make him anxious, and the entire length of his thick tail began to swish back and forth.

Eve tried to calm him by slowing down the motion of the tail, and in the process felt something rough and thin under her hand, very unlike the smooth skin of the slowpoke.

"What's this?" Eve asked as she looked at the rough white scar that encircled the tail about two-thirds of the tail's length away from the tip.

~My tail was cut off there once, years and years ago. The farther up the tail detaches, the more it hurts and the more it scars.~

A feeling of dread came over Eve as she recalled what Katsu had mentioned earlier. "Did humans do this to you?"

The slowpoke's tail went limp with sadness. ~Yes, many humans came and did this to us. Those were times of fear.~

Unable to stop her dread-fueled curiosity, she asked, "And how many of you did this happen to?"

All the slowpoke that had gathered to listen to Eve raised the tips of their tails a little ways into the air. Eve gasped, and she just barely managed to keep herself from crying out of sympathy. "Did this happen to all the slowpoke in this cave, then?"

~No,~ said one slowpoke who was standing away from the main group. ~I… was… never… caught,~ he continued in the slow manner of regular slowpoke speech. ~Many… of us… managed… to escape.~

_Is it coincidence that all of the hyped-up slowpoke had their tails cut off? _Eve thought, suddenly struck with an idea. "Could anyone tell me this: were any of the healthy slowpoke ever caught by the humans who cut off tails? Or, likewise, are there any sick slowpoke who didn't have their tails cut off at that time?"

All the slowpoke in the cavern – both sick and healthy – looked around, trying to see if Eve's question could be confirmed. After much murmuring and observation, one of the healthy slowpoke spoke up. ~None… of those… who are healthy… had their… tails… cut.~

~And it doesn't seem like anyone that's sick wasn't caught and cut by the humans,~ the slowpoke that Eve was petting said.

"I think we're on to something, then," Eve said loudly to the people who were anxiously waiting at the edge of the cavern. "The only ones that are sick were the ones who were captured by Team Rocket. I'll see how much else we can figure out." Turning back to the slowpoke with his head in her lap, Eve said, "I want you to try and remember everything that happened when those terrible humans came. And if he misses anything, anyone else can chip in with what they remember. I don't want skip over any detail, no matter how small."

~Okay, then,~ the main slowpoke said. ~I remember that they came charging in here all at once, using other pokémon to make us fall asleep. All the slowpoke who were in this main cavern at the time were caught, and those who were in other caverns hid to avoid the same fate. I woke up when they cut my tail off… I was in too much pain to notice much of anything for about a day after that. I think all of us had our tails cut off while we were sleeping after the original attack by the humans, though.~

~They fed us a lot,~ another slowpoke said. ~We always had food available. Berries.~

"Did they taste normal?"

~Yes, they tasted fine to me,~ the slowpoke said.

"Hmm… That could still be it, even if it tasted fine. Then again, they could have done practically anything to you while you were asleep."

Eve noticed another slowpoke approaching her; judging by its speed, it was one of the healthy slowpoke. She waited patiently, noting as the female slowpoke walked that she was much, _much _older than most of the slowpoke here. _I've met a slowpoke that was nearly two hundred years old, and even he was younger than this. And her age doesn't seem to be the only special thing about her… Even the fast-paced slowpoke are quieting down when they see her._

~I… stayed and… watched… when the humans… came...~ the old slowpoke said. ~When the tails… were cut… the humans… stuck something small… into what was left… of the tails. One of the small things… was dropped… and water came out… of it. Even from… my hiding place… the water smelled… of sickness.~

Eve gently pushed the original slowpoke's head from her laugh, so that she could more properly greet the old slowpoke. "Thank you. I'm certain that your information will help us find a cure. I'm honored to meet you. You surely have seen many seasons come and go in your life."

_I've lived more years than I can count, young one, _a voice rang through Eve's mind, making her jump.

Eve looked at the old one. "Is that you?"

The old slowpoke sat herself down on the ground. _Of course it is, young one. I had a kadabra teach me telepathy when I was still less than two hundred years old. Now, I'm well over three hundred. My father was the one who stopped the drought, for which the people who live near hear honor us. I was his first and only child._

Eve rubbed her temples, trying her best to ignore the pounding headache that was rapidly developing. "I'm sorry, I'm really not used to telepathy. It feels like it's halfway between human and pokémon communication, and it's making my brain hurt. But it seems like you have something you want to say, so please continue."

_I'll try to make this quick,_ the slowpoke said in Eve's head. Something about the communication was mildly evocative of sound… The old slowpoke's mental contact reminded Eve of a deep, almost bell-like humming noise. The slowpoke continued,_. You are doing your best to help at a time when those who look up to me are deathly sick, and so I wish to help you in kind. So I shall tell you that I have met someone like you before. A human who could communicate with pokémon. She meddled with the ways of the world, and for it, she was killed before she had reached even your young age._

Eve shook her head in confusion, causing her headache to escalate even further into almost blinding pain. She scrunched her eyes closed and held her hands to her ears doing her best to block out anything that might provoke the pain. "What do you mean, she messed with the ways of the world? How was she killed?"

_I know not how she was killed, nor what exactly she did,_ the slowpoke answered. _However, we slowpoke are slow, like nature. We sense when true change occurs. Around the time that I know the girl died, a time of anger began. Anger still reigns in this time, though now it wavers. I suspect this is because of you. _

Eve suddenly felt a hand grasp her own and pull it away from her ear, and she opened her eyes to see Katsu attempting to pull her up. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but you're swaying and trying to block out everything around you. We'll get you back to the surface and get you to a hospital."

Eve jerked her hand away. "No," she said loudly despite the fact that her brain felt like it would explode at the slightest sound. More quietly, she added, "There's something I need to learn." Eve turned back to the old slowpoke and asked, "So why are you telling me all this? How is it supposed to help me?"

_I don't want you to meet the same fate as the other girl. I'm sorry I can't tell you more than I already have, but do please tread carefully as you continue through life. _Then, in the regular pokémon-way of communicating, she said, ~I'm sorry… if that hurt. Telepathy… can be rough… if you're not used to it. Go back… to the surface… get some rest… and remember… what I said.~

Eve slowly stood up, all the while keeping her eyes closed. "I can't even take the lights down here, let alone sunlight," she whispered. "Going to the surface might have to wait." She felt Katsu's guiding hands on her shoulders, and this time, she didn't have the will to resist.

"What's wrong?" Eve heard someone ask as Katsu had her sit down with her back against the cave wall.

Eve groaned slightly. "Migraine," she said in explanation. "Just be quiet and let me sit until it passes, and then I'll tell you what happened."

Three painkillers and twenty minutes later, the headache had receded enough for Eve to talk in relative comfort. She told them everything that the slowpoke had said concerning the Team Rocket incident, with special emphasis on the mention of the small object used on the freshly cut tails.

"I think it was a hypodermic needle, since sickness-smelling liquid came out of it when it was dropped," Eve said when she got to this part. "Does anyone have any idea what they would inject after cutting off a tail?"

"Anesthetic?" the old man of the group suggested.

Rachel scoffed. "After they'd already cut of the tail? Team Rocket was horrible, but they weren't stupid and they didn't waste money."

"Team Rocket was selling the tails once they had them, correct?" Bugsy asked. "This was all before I was born, but I've heard the story from the older people in Azalea plenty of times."

Rachel nodded. "That's right, and it was quite a profitable business, if I'm not mistaken. In fact, it's still a profitable business. Except for here in Azalea, there are no laws banning it in Johto, since it doesn't permanently damage the pokémon."

"Did Team Rocket have any scientific capabilities?" Bugsy asked.

"That was a huge part of what they did," Rachel said. "They probably couldn't have been half as big of a problem if they hadn't had a whole army of scientists working for them."

Bugsy was on a roll now. "If that's the case, then what if they'd modified a virus specifically for accelerated metabolism, with no other negative side effects? The tails would grow back faster, and they'd be able to make more money."

Rachel smiled faintly. "You may be onto something there, Bugsy. And if the slowpoke say that they've noticed it for at least ten years, then it has had a lot of time to accelerate metabolism, albeit not as dramatically as we've seen the past few months. Perhaps they've already lived the metabolic equivalent of their lifespan. Either that, or their organs simply can't take the faster pace."

"So you'll either have to stop the virus or slow their metabolisms some other way," Eve said.

Hope spoke up, to the surprise of everyone. "Sleep powder sprinkled on their food. I imagine that would do the trick."

"Sounds easy enough," Rachel said. "We might as well try it. We'll get started on that plan tomorrow. Eve, before we leave, do you think you could make sure that the slowpoke will do what we say?"

Eve pushed herself from where she was still sitting on the ground. Her clothes were soaked from the dampness of the floor and the wall, and she was visibly shivering. She realized that she had a jacket in her bag, and she quickly dug it out while she said, "I can't guarantee that they'll do what you say. I think they will, but a lot of pokémon won't do what a human says if it doesn't make sense to them, and pokémon logic is very different from human logic. Battling is about the only time those two realms of thought perfectly coincide. Still, if I tell the slowpoke that even the silliest stuff you do is to help them, there shouldn't be a problem."

"Just do what you can," Rachel said. "That is, as long as it's not going to give you migraines again. Does talking to pokémon always do that to you?"

Katsu jumped at the opportunity to get to the matter that had been bothering him. "Speaking of which, what was it that you were so keen to withstand a hurricane-force headache to hear? We all heard what you were saying. Something about telepathy, and someone else being killed."

"It's, uh, nothing," Eve said unconvincingly. "One of the slowpoke was using telepathy, and it just hurt."

"But what about someone being killed?" Bugsy asked. "What was the slowpoke telling you?"

Eve looked at everyone that was standing around her, all of them waiting for an answer. As always, Hope seemed to be the only one who was uninterested. "Oh, well, it's just that…" Eve sighed in frustration. "Okay, I can't lie to save my life, so I'll tell you that it was something personal, and I'm still trying to work out what it means, so _please _don't keep on pressuring me about it, because I really don't want to tell anyone. Okay? Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go tell the sick slowpoke your plans, so that they hopefully do what you ask." Eve marched off to the group of slowpoke and relayed what the humans were going to do, happy for a reason to stop any more talk of what the old slowpoke had said.

When she walked back over to the humans at the edge of the cave, most of the lanterns were being held by anyone who had a free hand. No one seemed too keen to broach the subject of the telepathic conversation again. Not after Eve's last frustrated outburst.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

On the way back to Azalea Town, everyone commended Eve for what she'd been able to discover. They all agreed that even if the sleep powder idea didn't work, they now knew a lot more than they had before. Rachel was so happy that she offered Eve, Katsu, and Hope free stay at the pokémon center for as long as they were in town, and Bugsy said that he'd be ready to battle both Katsu and Hope the next day, as well as Eve, if she wanted.

However, Eve was still thinking about what the old slowpoke had said. _Something about some other girl who could talk to pokémon… I didn't know that there was ever anyone else like me. And the girl was killed… and then something about a time of anger… I can't even remember all of it thanks to that stupid headache! But what was it that the other girl did? She messed with how the world works, or something like that. I wish I knew what that meant._

When Eve, Katsu, Hope, and Rachel got to the pokémon center, Eve immediately locked herself in her small room. She let out her two pokémon, both so that they could eat and so that they could hear about everything that had happened while they'd been in their pokéballs. But unsurprisingly, neither knew what the old slowpoke had really meant.

A knock at Eve's door disturbed their discussion, much to Eve's annoyance. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Katsu."

Eve reluctantly got off of her bed and opened the door. "What's up?"

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you since we left Slowpoke Well," Katsu said. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Eve did mind, but she tried not to show it. Instead, she joined her pokémon back on her bed, and made it plainly obvious that there would be no room for him to sit down as well. He was left standing in the doorway, fingering one of the pokéballs on his pokéball-carrying belt.

"Let's not beat around the bush. What did you need to tell me?" Eve asked.

Katsu hesitated for a moment, and then pulled the pokéball off his belt and let out the pokémon within. It was – to Eve's disgust – a slowpoke.

"I know what you're thinking," Katsu said when he saw Eve's appalled expression. "But it didn't try to avoid being captured at all, and I've always wanted to train a slowpoke." He recalled the pink pokémon back to his pokéball, as if regretting showing the slowpoke off in the first place.

Eve stared simply stared at him as the irrational dread from earlier returned, this time coupled with sadness. Basil jumped into her lap and tried to comfort her. ~Eve, I really wish you would just get angry sometimes. I hate seeing you sad or scared whenever someone upsets you.~

~Yeah, just forget what stupid humans say,~ Hannah suggested. ~No matter how much you try, Katsu isn't going to change. Why don't we move on to Ilex Forest and leave Katsu here?~

Placing Basil on her shoulder, Eve wordlessly got up and began collecting the few loose items she had lying around the room.

"What? Are you leaving?" Katsu asked angrily. "You need to face reality. Humans use pokémon. That's just how it is."

Eve finished her packing and looked up at Katsu. "If that's reality, then I guess I'll just have to keep on dreaming. I think we're done travelling together. Sorry it couldn't work out." She hauled her bag onto her back, and then slid out the door past Katsu. Hannah and Basil followed closely, watching Katsu carefully in case the outraged human did something stupid in his anger. They had nothing to worry about, however; Katsu stayed put, too annoyed or too stunned to say or do anything.

~What about the slowpoke? And Hope?~ Basil asked. ~Are you sure you're not making too rash a decision?~

"I think I've done all I could for the slowpoke. Now it's up to the humans to come up with a solution," Eve said. "And as for Hope… I still really, _really _want to help her. She seems so sad. The only thing she seems to do is endure pain in order to get stronger. But… I don't think I'll be able to help her in the mood I'm in. I'm just so sad and disappointed and frustrated and confused. I need at least a couple of days away from people to calm myself down."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As dusk approached that evening, Eve's time in Ilex Forest was already helping her calm down. Most of the pokémon that she'd met during her trek into the forest during the day had all been very nice, and the growth of the forest itself was so lush and beautiful that Eve felt as if she could wander in Ilex for years and still enjoy the scenery.

~So did the unown say anything more about what you're supposed to do in this forest?~ Hanah asked. ~I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary yet.~

Eve finished laying out her sleeping bag under the sheltering roots of an old tree. "No, not really. They just wanted me to come to Ilex Forest. I guess we'll figure it out soon enough, don't you think? Just like I've got to figure out what the slowpoke meant."

~Um, excuse me,~ said an unfamiliar pokémon as Eve heard the soft sound of hoof steps rustling through the leaf litter towards her. ~Did the unown send you here?~

A stantler emerged from the trees, his branching antlers unlike anything Eve had ever seen. "The unown sent me, yes," Eve confirmed. "Do you know something about it?"

~Yes, I do. I'm supposed to take you to where you need to be. Please follow me, though I'm sorry to say that your companions cannot come,~ The stantler pawed regretfully with one of his forehoofs.

Basil dashed up to the stantler, with Hannah close at his heels. ~What do you mean, we can't come?~ The pikachu asked defiantly as weak electric sparks arced from his red cheeks and from the tip of his overly-long tail.

~As I said, I am sorry. But that's the way it has to be,~ the stantler emphasized. ~I hope that you'll understand.~ The stantler tossed his head in such a way that the brown orbs nestled within his antlers caught the fast-fading daylight. Eve noticed, and then suddenly had a vague awareness of her mind growing fuzzy.

~I suppose Hannah and I really should stay here and watch Eve's stuff for her,~ Basil said offhandedly, as if the matter was no longer a big deal.

The stantler seemed sadly satisfied. ~Now, human, would you please come with me?~

Something at the back of Eve's mind told her something was wrong, yet she found herself following the stantler in spite of this. She tried to get her mind in order, attempting to figure out just exactly what felt so out of place, yet she found it almost impossible to focus her thoughts on the topic for long enough to conclude anything.

Finally, when darkness had long ago fallen, Eve managed to convey her uneasiness in a question. "What's going on?"

The stantler paused momentarily and scraped an antler against a tree. Eve could tell that he was truly sorry, but for what, her clouded mind couldn't even begin to guess. ~I apologize for deceiving you like this, but this must be done. Your friends would have caused trouble in what is to come, and so they had to be left behind.~

"So are you… are you kidnapping me?"

The stantler pranced around uneasily at the question. ~Again, I am sorry… But yes, I am kidnapping you, in a sense. Now come; we must still go farther before I can send you into sleep.~

Despite the open admittance to what was going on, Eve found her eyes drawn back to the almost ethereal antlers on the stantler's head. And as she gazed, she unwittingly followed her kidnapper as he stepped ever farther into the maze of Ilex Forest.

* * *

I don't know about you guys, but I'm super excited for Pokémon Black and White, even if I won't get to play them until Spring! Everything about it sounds awesome so far! Practically all of them look super awesome! You can definitely expect to see the hydra eventually... I'm not sure how I'll work it in, but I'll do it somehow!

In other news... I'm just going to give up on the whole 'please review and please vote in the poll thing'... It's obvious that no one's listening. Except for Redemption Warrior, whom I thank once again for reviewing! But everyone else... Yeah. I'm receiving no feedback whatsoever. It's a good thing that I like this fic too much to abandon it, otherwise I would have dropped it a couple of chapters ago. I mean, I'm almost to the 50,000 word mark, and I only have seven reviews, all of which were written by two people... So whatever...


	10. Nostalgic Wanderings

**Chapter Ten: Nostalgic Wanderings**

Eve woke up quickly, realizing immediately that something was wrong. The first obviously wrong thing she noticed that she had fallen asleep on the ground without her sleeping bag, which was uncharacteristic of her even during the summer. And she couldn't sense the presence of either Basil or Hannah. Even now that Basil had a pokéball, he always curled up next to Eve as she slept, at least whenever they were traveling. Something was definitely, _definitely _wrong.

As Eve pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around, she started to grasp just what else was wrong with her situation. She had no idea where she was. She was surrounded by trees, and yet the trees of this forest seemed younger than the positively ancient oaks that she had seen in Ilex before. A small, wooden shrine was standing right next to her; Eve guessed that she must have fallen asleep right at its base. But why fall asleep there?

A vague, dreamlike memory entered Eve's head as she stared at the wooden shrine, and she suddenly put all her focus into remembering it. Whatever the recollection was, it felt relevant. _I think I remember the shrine a little… I remember a stantler guiding me to it, and… That's it! The stantler tricked me into following him! But where is he now? And why did he do it in the first place?_

A slight rustling noise sounded above her, and Eve snapped her head up to see the source. Interestingly enough, Eve soon realized that the tree branches above her head were not housing whoever the culprit was. Rather, the noise was coming from inside the shrine. Eve scooted back on the ground a little ways, putting some distance between her and the shrine as the little wooden doors at its front rattled from the movement within.

Then the door opened, and the green head of a pokémon peeked out. ~Oh, good, you're up!~ the green pokémon said happily, her large round eyes bright with enthusiasm. The pokémon floated cheerily out of the shrine, revealing her rather fairy-like body. The antennae on her head bobbed lightly as she floated over to Eve and circled around her several times. ~I'm Celebi. You're Eve, right?~

Eve stood slowly, trying to process the last phrase that the green pokémon had said. "So you said your name is Celebi?" Celebi nodded in response. Eve scowled slightly, confused. "But I've never met a pokémon that used names, either for herself or others. Why do you?"

~Well, I suppose you could say that I'm a bit different from the average pokémon,~ Celebi explained. ~To put it simply, I'm the only one of my species that ever existed, and I've lived for several thousand years. And I'm quite a bit stronger than the average pokémon.~

Eve was amazed, though her awe quickly drained as she remembered her situation. "But where are Hannah and Basil? They're my friends, and they'll be worried if I'm gone long. For that matter, where am I?"

~The 'where' is easy. We're at my shrine, not too terribly far away from where my friend brought you from,~ Celebi said. ~It's the question of 'when' that makes the situation complicated. Why don't you ask about that? You did notice that the forest is quite a bit younger here, right?~

"Um, okay. 'When' are we?" Eve asked, thoroughly puzzled by this point in the discussion.

The little green fairy twirled excitedly through the air. ~We're about 2,000 years before you were born, and about 500 years before the Great Change.~

Eve's jaw literally dropped. "Y-You're not lying, are you?" _Of course she isn't,_ Eve thought to herself even as she voiced the question. _Pokémon don't lie, at least not in the same sense that humans do. _Eve continued, "But… but… how?"

~As I said earlier, I'm a pretty special pokémon. I can move backward and forwards through time, though I need this shrine for long time jumps and for bringing others with me. Like you.~ Losing some of her cheeriness, she continued, ~I'm also really sorry I had to bring you like this. But if I'd just asked you to come, I was afraid your friends the pichu and the chikorita would have insisted on coming along, which would have made the time jump extremely difficult. Even with just you, I've had to rest three days to get back up to full strength.~

"Three days! Was I asleep for all that time, too?" Celebi nodded. "Basil and Hannah are going to be so worried! Oh, but wait… If you can travel through time, then you can just transport me back to the moment I left, can't you?"

Celebi dropped slightly in the air. ~Actually… no. Since you're still aging now, that would mean that, when returned, you'd be several days older than you actually should be. Strangely enough, that causes more problems than a huge time jump like what we just did. Between what I have to show you and the time I'll need for resting, it might be a week before I can get you back to your time.~

"And you couldn't have just told my friends what was going on? Basil especially is going to be freaking out if I just disappear."

~I already told the stantler who brought you here to go back and explain to your friends what's going on,~ Celebi assured. ~If I'd told them before now, they probably would have tried to stop me.~

Eve sighed. "Okay, I don't think you mean me any harm, but why go to all this trouble? You said you needed to show me something?"

Celebi started floating away from the shrine and into the surrounding forest. ~Yes, I do need to show you something. Follow me; I'll tell you about it as you walk.~ Eve did as she was told, and so Celebi continued, ~What I need to show you is something that is known only to pokémon who have lived for as long as I have. It's called the 'Great Change'. We're five hundred years before it right now, so that you can see how things were before this change.~

"A change, you say? Did something like this change maybe happen in the three hundred years before I was born?" Eve asked, suddenly making the link between the old slowpoke's warning the previous day. "A slowpoke I talked to told me about a time of anger that started sometime in that time frame. I think she called it a change, too."

~You have met a very wise slowpoke, then,~ Celebi said. ~Yes, that was a change, too. Just not even close to the same level of the Great Change. The change you're referring to occurred about 150 years before you live, and I call it the Change of Confrontation. All I know is that it was started by powerful pokémon like me when they fought. And that it has caused more conflicts since, both amongst the Great Ones and between the Great Ones and humans.~

"Who are the Great Ones?" Eve asked.

Celebi twirled a little in the air. ~They're all unique pokémon like me, although most of them are quite a bit stronger and more important than myself.~

"Okay, okay. I think I get it. Is there anything else you can tell me about that 'Change of Confrontation', or whatever it's called? The slowpoke seemed to think that it had something to do with me."

Celebi shook her head. ~I'm sorry, but I'm tied to this forest. I can't just leave Ilex and see what else is going on in the world, and so I have no idea what really happened. All I can do is sense the changes in the times. Thankfully, the Great Change originated here, so I _can_ at least show you its source.~

"I guess that's okay if you can't tell me more about what the slowpoke meant," Eve said, though she was obviously disappointed. "Anyway, I think I have one more question. You said that you need to show me the Great Change, but you still haven't told me why showing me this change is so necessary."

A mischievous twinkle entered Celebi's eyes. ~And you've hit on the question of the millenia there. I just felt a very specific compulsion to pick you up from your time and show you the Great Change. I've always thought of that compulsion as Fate; this is the third time it's called on me to do something like this. Though whether or not it really is fate is up for debate; maybe it's some higher power, a pokémon stronger than even us Great Ones. I don't know. As I said, it's happened to me a couple times before, and each time it's pretty much impossible to ignore.~

"Hmm… I don't exactly get what you're saying, and I think you might be insane, but I'll believe you anyway," Eve said jokingly, somewhat resigning herself to the whole crazy situation. "So what are you showing me at this spot in time?"

~This,~ Celebi said, stopping next to a big bush at the edge of a clearing. The bush was tall enough to hide Eve completely, so she stepped just behind it and peeked through the leaves to see into the clearing.

Walking on the other side of the clearing was a group of men, and it wasn't until Eve caught sight of them that she truly comprehended that she was in the past. These humans wore clothing completely unlike her own; it looked to be made completely out of some sort of leather, and it was dyed with dark colors to match the shadows of the forest. They stood out now only because they were well within the light of the sun, preferring to walk in the clearing rather than through the brambles of the forest. Each carried a spear-like weapon in his hand, but their hunting seemed already accomplished; two of the men were dragging the body of a girafarig behind them.

Eve watched intently, undisturbed by the scene before her. While she felt sad for the girafarig, she knew the circle of life as well as anybody. She'd seen her pokémon friends in the forest killed for food, and she'd learned long ago that it was the only way that life could continue.

Rather than dwelling on that matter, she tilted her head and tried her best to listen to the words that drifted across the clearing to her. It was all gibberish to her, though, so she turned to Celebi for explanation. "What am I supposed to be seeing here? People killing pokémon for food?"

~No, no,~ Celebi replied sadly, ~Turn back and watch for a couple more minutes. We've come right in time for what you need to see.~

Eve did as she was told, and soon, she heard the sound of wing beats. She looked up and saw something huge flying overhead, heading directly towards the group of humans. Her mouth opened as she tried to cry out a warning, but a vine from a nearby tree seemingly came to life and gagged her.

~You must watch, not interfere,~ Celebi said grimly. Eve tried to turn away as the huge winged pokémon dived, but the vines held her head in place. In the end, she couldn't even shut her eyes as the men finally realized the danger. They tried to run, but the prehistoric flying beast was too fast. It landed on two of them, immediately crushing their bodies and killing them. Three more humans were sent flying by the lashing of the creature's long, heavy tail; two of those three screamed in terror and in pain, and the third was killed immediately when the impact of the tail snapped his neck.

The last two hunters attempted to escape by running off into the woods, but the flying pokémon caught sight of them as they tried to flee. It opened its mouth and, after a moment's pause, a beam of light and energy shot towards the two humans. There was a small explosion as the concentrated energy met solid matter, and the would-be hunters plummeted forwards to the ground. Eve knew that they couldn't have survived it; even a pokémon of decent strength could sometimes be done in by a well-placed hyper beam.

Within less than a minute, one pokémon had managed to kill five out of seven humans, and the other two were so incapacitated that they were certain to be dead as soon as the gigantic gray beast noticed their pained moanings.

Eve continued to watch for a few moments as the creature dipped its mouth down and ripped out the stomach of one of the humans it had landed on. Eve's shocked mind took in every detail of the beast that she had missed in the previous chaos: its strong, talonless feet; the thick, almost rocky grey skin of its hide; the bloodstained serrated teeth that filled its long, vicious-looking muzzle; and the gargantuan wings that had allowed such a vast being to descend so stealthily upon its unsuspecting prey.

Finally, Eve tore her eyes from the gory scene. She fell to the ground, trembling so hard that she could no longer keep control of her body. Bile rose to her throat and she gagged, though she somehow managed to keep herself from actually throwing up.

It took her nearly ten minutes to get a hold of herself, every moment of which she was agonizingly aware of the creature gorging itself on human flesh only a few hundred feet away.

"Th-that was terrible," Eve finally managed to stutter, though half of her mind was still listening to the crunching of bones and the vicious cawing of carrion-eating murkrow. "Part of it is that I've never seen a human killed, and humans are so much more afraid of death than are pokémon. But… but that wasn't even the worst of it. It was just slaughter. The humans had absolutely no chance. The difference in power was so… so… unfair. Even a group of caterpie might have had a better chance, if they'd attacked together. But humans… I don't even understand how my species survived, if things were ever like this."

Eve felt the gentle touch of Celebi's arm on her back. ~Then you have understood the essence of what the world was before the Great Change. The balance was tilted in favor of pokémon, and humans were incredibly outmatched. Humans were the main prey of carnivorous pokémon at this point in time, because they were so much easier to catch and kill than other pokémon. I'm sorry if it shocked you, but this was the best way for me to impress upon you what it was like.~

"But why does this apply to me? Why did I have to see something like this?"

~If my guess is right,~ Celebi said, ~then this is preparing you for something. Perhaps you need to know this, or perhaps you need to be ready for similarly dreadful moments in your own life. For your sake, I hope not. Either way, let us continue back to the shrine, and then onto another happier time.~

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

~This is approximately 1,500 years before your time. We're literally days away from the crux of the Great Change,~ Celebi said as she and Eve sat at the edge of a village, hidden amongst bushes once again. According to Celebi, this was Azalea town in its very beginnings, when it was still completely surrounded by Ilex Forest.

"Everyone seems fairly content," Eve commented. "And I even see people and pokémon working and playing side by side, just like in my time."

Celebi skeptically twitched her antennae. ~Just like your time, huh? Maybe you should look a little closer, because I guarantee you that this is quite different from the time you're accustomed to. Go ahead, take your time. Even though the jump through time to here wasn't as bad as my first jump, I'll still need several more hours to go fifteen hundred years back to your time.~

After about thirty minutes of silent observation, Eve slowly started to see that there really was a difference between this time and her own. "It seems like the humans respect pokémon more in this time. I can hear what some people are saying, and even though I can't understand the language, I haven't once seen someone command a pokémon. They only seem request things of the pokémon, if I'm judging their actions and attitudes correctly. And they don't ignore the pokémon… it almost seems like they ask for the pokémon's opinions before doing anything."

~You've hit the truth spot on,~ Celebi said happily. ~In this era, pokémon and humans are at a rare balance. There are some pokéballs made out of stone and wood, but these are so difficult to make and so expensive that very few people have more than one. So there's more of a one-to-one pokémon-to-human ratio, rather than the oh so common six-to-one of your time. Some of these pokémon don't even have pokéballs; many pokémon would join with people willingly. It's a mutual relationship: pokémon provide help and protection for the humans, and humans are very effective at training pokémon, even in this time period.

_Humans and pokémon in harmony? Sounds like a perfect world for someone like me…_ "So what changed all that?"

~Do you see that house over there?~ Celebi asked, pointing to a house at the edge of town.

"Yeah, what about it?"

~That's the house where the first real pokéball was made. Have you ever heard of Kurt of Azalea Town?~ Celebi asked.

Eve scratched her head. "I met someone named Kurt while helping some slowpoke in Azalea. He was an older guy who seemed to know a lot about the slowpoke."

Celebi floated happily, making a circuit around Eve's head. ~That doesn't surprise me. The Kurt I know – the Kurt of this time period, and the ancestor of the Kurt you met – he always had a soft spot for the slowpoke around here. He's the one who built a way for humans to get down to the slowpoke caves; that entrance is now called Slowpoke Well. In fact, the entire reason he created the first true pokéball was so that he could keep his friend with him, since his friend the slowpoke was too slow to keep up with him naturally. Kurt didn't have enough money to buy a pokéball, so he made one that actually turned out to be cheaper to produce than the originals. Plus, it was much easier to make his pokéballs than to carve them out of stone or wood.~

"How did he figure out how to make it?" Eve asked.

~He was observant. He knew that apricorns were so nutritious that a single fruit could easily sustain a human for two days,~ Celebi explained. ~He figured that if the skin could hold so much energy, it might be able to hold the energy of a pokémon. This was how one of the nicest humans I've ever met managed to change this world of balance into the world you now know. It was this single invention that started a chain of events that led to much innovation on the part of man. And with that innovation came dominance.~

Eve frowned. "But how could the invention of the pokéball start all that?"

Celebi dropped down and sat on the ground. ~That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure myself. Having more pokémon meant more free labor for humans, and that was part of the reason for the humans' sudden progress. Another part of it was that somehow, the spread of the pokéball awakened a kind of pokémon called unown. And the awakening of the unown allowed both for a more advanced language system as well as a writing system, which previously had been unheard of.~

"But I've been to the Ruins of Alph, where I met the unown that told me to come to Ilex forest. I read something there that said that the writing system triggered the age of progress for humans."

~Writing helped, but as I said, it wasn't the trigger,~ Celebi insisted. ~The pokéball is what unbalanced the world. Writing was only an effect of the invention of the pokéball.~

Eve sighed and rubbed her forehead. "So how is the time when I live so bad? I'll recognize that it's unbalance, but most pokémon don't have it too badly off. As long as they avoid capture, then they just live out in the wild like they always do."

Celebi's antennae drooped in her equivalent of a sigh. ~There's not much I can do to help you if you've lived in your own time and still can't see what's wrong with it. But tell me this: have you ever seen a pokémon like the one that killed and ate those people in the first era I brought you to? Let me answer that for you: no, you've never seen a pokémon like that. They were all mercilessly killed after humans figured out a safe way to do so. Did you know that a certain species of pokémon called farfetch'd was hunted to extinction long before your time, only because they tasted good? Or did you know that another, very honorable species of pokémon called growlithe is nearly extinct because people like their striped pelts?~ Celebi's antennae dropped even further. ~The lack of balance in your time is something you'll need to see for yourself. But even if you're blind to it now, I'm confident that you'll do the right thing when your purpose is made clear.~

"I certainly hope you're right… Especially if what you think I'm going to do is so important that you had to take me back in time," Eve replied. The two lapsed into silence for a long while. Eve watched as a single man went in and out of the house Celebi had pointed out earlier, carrying apricorns into his home by the dozens. _I could stop him right now_, Eve thought. _Or Celebi could. And then we'd always have a world where pokémon and humans are at balance… But Celebi would never do that, I know. And altering the course of history doesn't seem like it would be a great idea, anyway. I suppose humans will just have to step up to the plate for themselves and try to fix what is wrong in the world. Who knows? Maybe it could happen._

"Before we head back to the shrine, I have a question for you," Eve suddenly said, breaking the silence. "You said that my time is unbalanced. Does it get worse in the future after my time? And if what you think I'm destined to do is so important, don't you have some inkling of what it is after traveling to the future beyond my time?"

Celebi shook her head sadly. ~I'm sorry, but as far as the future after your time goes, I'm as blind as anyone. Sometime in the next few years after you came to my forest, something destroys my shrine. And even though I don't need my shrine to time travel, I do need it to be in whatever time I travel to. I dare not go any farther into the future beyond the time I picked you up in; the destruction of the shrine is warping time for a year or two before the damage, and trying to get too close might end up destroying me.~

"What if I promise to rebuild your shrine? Could you time travel again?"

~No, human hands did not build my shrine, that much I know. Only someone with some mastery over time might be able to make a new one.~

Eve smiled slightly. "I guess it's just like that old saying goes, then. 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.' Even though I've met the pokémon of time, I still can't figure out what you and the slowpoke think might happen to me. I guess I'll just have to continue on like I always have. Now, do you think I could go back to my own time now? I'm certain Basil will be freaking out, and to be honest, I think _I'm _even getting some separation anxiety."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Almost as soon as Eve arrived in her own time, the felt something furry jump on her head, and another something rubbing against her leg.

~Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve! I missed you!~ Basil practically shouted, sparks arcing from his cheeks in his excitement. ~That's it! That is the last time I allow you to take directions from unown!~

~Basil was really worried while you were gone, so I made him get his mind off of it by training together nonstop,~ Hannah said proudly. ~His accuracy is really good, and his power got at least a little better through training. And now my vines are even longer, and I even learned how to use the sun to regain health!~

Eve smiled to herself. _I should've known. I go missing for almost six days and all Hannah cares about is her training. But even though she's not as clingy as Basil, I can tell that she's glad to see me back._ "I missed both of you, too!" Eve said, taking Basil off of her shoulder and hugging the pikachu affectionately. "And I'm glad to hear that you got something done while I was gone. Do you still have my stuff with you?"

Hannah ran over to one side of the shrine and dragged it out into the open using her vines. ~When that stupid stantler came back to tell us what was going on, we made him help us carry it. I still can't believe he managed to trick us like he did.~

~Oh, and before I forget, Katsu came by after a couple days,~ Basil said. ~He seemed worried that you would get lost in the forest. When he found us, he seemed really anxious. I kind of wondered if he reported you as a missing person to the police.~

"As much as I dislike him right now, I'll text him to let him know I'm alright, and to find out if I really am considered a missing person right now... If he found you guys without me around, then he probably did call the police. But I will _not_ talk to him, even if he calls," Eve sighed. "At least it all worked out okay in the end, so don't worry about the stantler thing too much, Hannah. Anyway, on another note, I'd like you to meet someone…" Eve looked around, and after a couple moments' of searching, she spotted Celebi lying down inside of her shrine.

~I'm just taking a breather,~ Celebi said, without turning to meet Eve's pokémon. ~I'll be all right in a day or two. Anyway, nice to meet the both of you; my name's Celebi. I'm sorry I had to take your trainer away from you, but I just wanted to show her a couple things.~

Basil flicked his ears angrily. ~And what was so important that you couldn't tell us that you were going to take Eve right out of this century?~

Though Celebi remained lying down, Eve noticed her antennae prick up in amusement. ~It was actually more important than any of us realize, I think. Make sure you take care of your human well; if she's so important that Fate pointed her out to me, then I have a feeling that you'll have some tough days ahead of you. Now, I am going to get some rest, and I'd appreciate it if no one bothers me. Eve, it was nice meeting you, and I wish you the best of luck.~

"It was nice meeting you as well, and I promise that if I can, I'll try to fix the shrine when it's damaged," Eve said.

~I appreciate the thought, but it's unnecessary,~ Celebii said. ~If it ended up being rebuilt, I'd already know. Now I really am going to sleep now, so good night.~

Eve was about to respond, but then she realized that the time travelling pokémon was already asleep. She shrugged her shoulders, picked up her backpack, and then silently gestured for Basil and Eve to follow her. Night was starting to fall, and Eve wanted to find somewhere to sleep for the night. _I've finally returned after going back in time a couple thousand years,_ she thought to herself. _I can't wait to sleep in my own time again, in my own sleeping bag, and next to Basil and Hannah._ Eve closed her eyes in a moment of peace, but opened them almost immediately as the image of that flying monster's bloodstained mouth filled her mind.

She groaned slightly. _Even though I'm in my own time and far away from that pokémon, I wonder how long it will haunt my nightmares?_

* * *

I love this chapter. ^_^ It's sort of the first real precursor of what is to happen in the fic... Though I do suppose the last chapter and the unown chapter also alluded to this in their own ways. Oh, and I also like it because Celebi makes me smile.

Anyway, next chapter is the one that almost made me permanently change this story to M-rated... I ended up modifying it greatly from its original version. As in, the language and themes are WAY toned down from what they were. The connotations are still there, though, so those of you who would have been mature enough to read the original version will probably have a pretty good idea of how the chapter was changed. Aside from that, though, there I didn't change the plot or the course of events from the original, so it's all really the same thing.

And I can't believe I'm already to chapter 10! I've barely finished Chapter 14, so I'm definitely falling behind... Still, I should be good for a while yet. You have at least another month's worth of chapters guaranteed to come on time. ^_^ Wish me luck in finding the time to write!


	11. Interview and Ambush

**Chapter Eleven: Interview and Ambush**

"Yes, Mom, I understand how worried you were," Eve said as she talked into her cell phone, trying to calm her mother down as much as possible. "It's not like I asked Katsu to contact the police and have my so-called 'disappearance' be broadcasted everywhere! I promise you, I was fine!"

"Then what exactly were you doing for nearly a week? Exactly why didn't you answer my phone calls?"

Eve hesitated. "I was, um, exploring. And I didn't get very good cell reception in Ilex Forest."

A sigh came through the phone. "You know, Eve, you never were very good at lying."

Eve slumped. "Yeah, I know. But it was a really weird, pokémon-related situation, and I'd just as soon explain it the next time we're face to face," Eve said as she squinted, trying to block out enough of the morning sun to get a good look at the city she was walking towards. Ever since she'd first left home, she'd been trying to call her mom every few days. The whole Celebi incident had messed up that schedule, however, and Eve was doing her best to sort things out as she headed to Goldenrod City. Hoping that her mom was now content with her partial explanation, Eve continued, "Anyway, do I need to call dad and tell him I'm okay as well?"

"I doubt he even knows that you were missing," Eve's mom replied. "He's still up at that geological dig in Isshu, and I haven't been able to get a hold of him for almost two weeks now."

"Figures," Eve said, her shoulders slumping. "Since it was related to pokémon, I doubt he even cares why I was gone."

"Now don't say that, Eve. Your father cares, even if he doesn't exactly show it."

Eve felt her eyes welling up slightly at her familiar sense of frustration. "Has he once called me since I left home? Has he even asked youif I'm okay? Did he even care when he heard about the incident with the unown? " Without waiting for her mom to answer, Eve continued, "No. Of course he didn't call, or ask, or care. As soon as I decide to do something in my life concerning pokémon, he can't accept it. He was like this when I started working at the pokémon center, too. I'm not angry at him… It just makes me feel terrible that my own father won't get over his prejudices to support me."

"You know he has his reasons," Eve's mother replied, trying her best to placate her daughter. "And I think he hasn't called because he'd rather stay silent than talk to you and end up offending you."

"_Mom!_ That thought doesn't help. If he's my dad, he should be able to talk to me without offending me, and that's just how it is." Then, doing her best to end the aggravating conversation, she added, "I'm just about at Goldenrod now, so I'd better go. I've got to find the police station so they can close the missing person case."

Eve's mother stayed silent for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to return to the previous subject. Then, finally, she said, "All right, honey. Just be careful; Goldenrod is the biggest city in Johto, and I don't want you getting lost."

"Okay Mom, bye." Eve closed her phone and slowly let out her breath, trying to calm herself down.

~So you're annoyed about your dad again, Eve?~ Basil asked.

Rubbing the wetness from her eyes, Eve responded, "Yeah, you could say that."

Basil flicked swished his tail sympathetically. ~I remember the first time you brought me home… Your dad got so angry.~

~Huh? What's wrong with your father, Eve?~ Hannah asked. ~Does he hate pokémon?~

Eve nodded. "Yeah, he does. He's a geologist, and a very good one at that. But almost the only way he can get funding is if he ties his research into pokémon research somehow, such as by noting how rocks are affected by the presence of pokémon, or learning how the pokémon are affected by their environment. He resents that, because he feels like without the obsession the world has with pokémon, he could pursue the sort of studies geological he really wants."

~Oh. Well, I don't know what a geologist is, but it seems like a stupid reason to hate pokémon,~ Hannah said.

Eve laughed. "I suppose it is a stupid reason. But anyway, we're almost in the city limits, and I already checked in on Goldenrod's pokémon laws. I can only have one pokémon out, and Basil is a bit easier to have around, as far as size goes. I hope you don't mind."

Hannah waved her leaf uncaringly. ~I don't mind, just so long as I'm not missing out on training.~

So Hannah was returned to her pokéball, and Eve continued into Goldenrod with Basil on her shoulder. They managed to find the police station rather easily; it was located right in the heart of town, and simple directions from some locals was all that Eve needed to locate it.

Closing the missing person case that Katsu had started was easy enough. Eve just had to prove who she was, and explain where she had been. She lied by saying that she had just been wandering the forest; telling them the truth probably would have been seen as a lie, anyway, considering how weird reality was. The police didn't quite believe her, but there wasn't much they could do to force her to tell the truth, since it was her own disappearance they were inquiring about.

Almost as soon as she came out into the lobby of the police station, Eve found herself confronted by a professional looking woman with short brown hair and blue eyes. "You wouldn't happen to be Eve Addamson, would you?" she asked politely.

"Uh, yes, I guess I am," Eve said. "And you are…?"

"Oh, I'm Eloise Redd, but you can just call me Lou," The woman said, reaching out her hand to shake Eve's. "I'm a reporter for Johto Public Radio, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing news to the people of Johto. Seeing as you've been rather prominent in the news recently, I was wondering if you might be willing to take part in an interview."

Eve absentmindedly reached up to her shoulder and scratched Basil's head. "I've been in the news? Really?"

"You didn't know?" Lou asked. "Because of your discovery of unown and the breakthrough with the mysterious slowpoke sickness, people all over the tri-city area of Goldenrod, Violet, and Cherrygrove are aware of who you are. And after the Azalea Town gym leader headed up the search for you when you disappeared, many people followed the case closely. You're a bit of a celebrity in this part of the country now, and you're quickly gaining nationwide status. Your ability to speak with pokémon alone is something that no one has ever heard of before."

~Eve? A celebrity? I always knew people would recognize your talents eventually,~ Basil commented happily.

Eve was stunned. "Really? I mean, I know I was in the paper in Violet after the whole unown thing, but nationwide? You really think so?"

Lou nodded. "I assure you, it's true. Just try searching your name on the Internet; you'll find at least a few news stories, as well as plenty of discussions about you. People want to know whether or not you really can talk to pokémon and how you managed to wake the unown, as well as thank you for saving pokémon with such cultural significance. So what do you say? Want to let the world know a little bit more about you through an interview, Miss Addamson? One of the guests for my show just cancelled, so I've got an open spot on my show three hours from now."

"Well, I guess it depends," said Eve, still hesitant about this proposal. "You're not going to make me look bad, are you? I've heard a lot of radio stations that just make fun of people."

"No, of course not," Lou said. "Those are the radio stations aiming to entertain people, so that they can make a big profit. As I said, we're not for profit. I promise that I'll go out of my way to cast you in as good a light as possible, so long as I'm not completely distorting the truth. And this would be a good chance for you to show people who you are as a person, rather than letting them guess what kind of person you might be."

Eve thought for a moment longer. "What do you think, Basil? Is it a good idea?"

~I think it's a great idea,~ he replied, sparking encouragingly. ~If even a pokémon like Celebi recognizes you as someone special, then you might as well let the humans know it, too.~

"Okay, then, I'll do it," Eve said, ignoring the somewhat bemused expression on Lou's face; even people who knew about Eve's ability sometimes found it odd to see her talk with pokemon. "I guess I'll be more than happy to be interviewed."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Hello, and welcome to Eye on the Times. I'm your host Eloise Redd. Our original guest couldn't make it, unfortunately, but now I have the great pleasure of introducing our surprise guest. Eighteen-year-old Eve Addamson has been making quite the splash in Violet City and Azalea Town, and I am happy to be interviewing her today. Welcome to the show, Miss Addamson."

"Oh, I'm glad to be here," Eve said. _That's what the producers had told me to say at this point in the interview. But other than that and the general topics we'll be covering, I have no clue how I'm going to manage speaking in front of a national audience._

Wasting no time, Lou continued, "Miss Addamson, you first came to the world's attention in an article published in the Violet City, which cited you as the reason for a huge discovery at the Ruins of Alph. Would you tell us more about that?"

_Oh, I wish Basil was with me! I'd feel a little less nervous if he was around. _"Um, sure. A friend from Violet City was just showing me the sights when the floor in one of the ruins collapsed, sending me into a chamber that the archeologists there had never seen. Some pokémon called unown were there, and they showed me some inscriptions in the walls."

"Do you have any idea why the unown decided to show you these inscriptions, rather than someone else?" Lou asked kindly.

"I suppose it was the fact that I can talk to pokémon, maybe," Eve said, her jitters soothed slightly by Lou's conversational demeanor. "Then again, I'm not for sure. They didn't really say anything to me."

Lou used this comment as a starting point for the next topic. "You just mentioned that you can talk to pokémon. You have undoubtedly proven this through your interactions with the slowpoke of Azalea Town about a week ago. I'm certain that our listeners would love to hear you explain a little more about how this amazing ability and how it works."

"Well, I've been able to speak with pokémon for as long as I can remember," Eve said. "And as for how it works… If I contrast it with humans speech, I'd say it's a lot more instinctual."

"Could you explain that concept more? What do you mean by 'instinctual'?" Lou asked.

Eve gathered her thoughts, trying to think of the best way to clarify. "Think of it this way. The main way humans communicate is through words and language, right? Pokémon don't have anything like that to speak of. But humans can read the emotions on someone's face when no words are spoken, or even feel the tense atmosphere of a room when people have been fighting a moment before. That's how pokémon communicate; if one pokémon wants to say something, another pokémon just sort of knows instinctually what is being said, even if no concrete communication was given." Eve paused, then continued, "At least it's sort of like that. It's kind of hard to explain with words."

"Okay, listeners, we're now opening our lines up for questions," Lou said. This was the part that Eve was worried about; she had no idea what the listeners might call in and ask about. Lou continued, "If you have something you'd like to ask Eve Addamson, now is your chance. It looks like our first caller is Eric Williams from Goldenrod City. Welcome to the show."

A voice came from a small speaker in the room recording room. "Thanks. After hearing about how Eve helped the slowpoke of Azalea, I just wanted to ask her how she felt about the new pidgey poisoning policy that just went into effect today here in Goldenrod City?"

"What?" Eve asked, rather startled by the question. _Pidgey poisoning? Who would do that? _"I'm sorry, but I haven't had any access to news for about the past week. Would someone explain what this policy is?"

"I believe he's referring to the City Council's efforts to rid the city of pidgey, which are considered a pest by many residents," Lou explained. "By placing poisoned bird food in strategic parts of the city, they hope to eliminate the problem completely."

An audible gasp escaped Eve's mouth. "That's terrible!" She said, unable to control her horror. "How many pidgey are in the city that might be affected? Or, not just pidgey, but bird pokémon in general?"

"I'd say there must be several thousand, especially when you count spearow and other small birds," Lou said.

"And they're being killed just because they're considered an annoyance?" Eve asked incredulously. "Imagine what human society would be like if we killed off anyone who annoyed us?"

Lou nodded understandingly. "So now that you know about this rather controversial issue, do you plan on doing anything about it? I'm sure that your word on the matter might have some influence on the minds of the politicians."

"I imagine that would take too long if the poison is already out there," Eve said. "Do you think I can get arrested for warning the pidgey about it?"

"As long as you don't tamper with the poison itself, I think you should be fine," Lou said, a slight smile on her face. "After all, there's no law against talking to pidgey."

Eve smiled happily. "I'm glad I agreed to this interview, then, or I might never have heard about it. Thank you Eric for asking the question! Now let's hurry up this interview… I don't want any pidgey to die unnecessarily, if I can help it."

The interview continued on for a good thirty minutes after that, with questions varying from Eve's political views (something she didn't really have) to what different pokémon she had talked to, but Eve kept her mind focused mainly on what she had to do after the interview. _Even if I maybe just made a fool of myself on national radio, it was worth it. I've got to somehow stop the poisoning._

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Even with Basil helping look out for any flocks of pidgey, the task was a time consuming process. Firstly, it turned out that Eve couldn't just warn one flock and then have him spread the word to the rest in the city. She soon learned that the different flocks were much too territorial to possibly warn each other of danger. So she had to go all over the vast city to try and make sure that all pidgey got word of the poison.

Sadly, she didn't make it in time for many. Plenty of pidgey bodies lay in the parks and on the sidewalks. Though the city maintenance crew was out in full force to combat the spike in dead bodies, it was still hard to miss the limp body or two on every block. Some of the still alive pidgey were too weak to fly, or had blurred vision, and Eve knew that none of them had long to live. That afternoon alone, she saw a good hundred dead on the sidewalks, and perhaps another two hundred or so that were dying more slowly after consuming small amounts of the poison.

But hundreds more of the pidgey hadn't eaten any of the poison by the time Eve got to them, and Eve knew that they'd be more than cautious about any food laid out by humans. By the time night had come and Eve was satisfied with her days work, Eve estimated that she'd saved over a thousand pidgey. She felt good about it. The good feeling went away quickly, however, as soon as she realized a few things.

_It's night._

_I'm in the biggest city in Johto._

_And I'm completely lost._

…

_I must be stupider than a one-headed dodrio._

"Basil, do you have any idea how to get back?" Eve said, looking at the grimy, dimly lit street she was standing next to.

The pikachu stood on top of Eve's head, trying to get a good look at their surroundings. ~All the big buildings are off that way, and the pokémon center is near the heart of town,~ he said, pointing with his tail. ~We could head back there and get directions.~

"I agree; that sounds like the only thing we can do. And let's hurry. I've heard rumors about Goldenrod at night, and I don't particularly want to prove them true," Eve said. As she adjusted her travel bag on her back, she wished she'd dropped if off earlier, when she'd passed the pokémon center while warning the pidgey. _When I'm carrying around a bag this big, I wonder how much more a target of theft that makes me? Not to mention, it's annoyingly heavy._

Doing her best to ignore her sore feet and heavy bag, Eve started walking back towards downtown. She tried to stick to the brighter streets, and she stayed well away from the numerous groups of guys huddled in alleyways and around cars, doing and planning things that Eve was certain she didn't want to know about.

But after a while of walking, a glimpse of something reddish in color caught Eve's eye. She stopped and took a closer look down the alley she had spied whatever had drawn her attention. From what she could tell, it was fur on the body of some sort of pokémon, though most of its body was curled behind a trashcan. However, there was one thing that she definitely could see: it was injured. The one leg that was visible had a large gash down its length, which looked rather swollen and unhealthy. For someone who had helped in pokémon centers for several years, it was easy to see that the injury was infected.

Eve stepped into the alley to get a better look at the pokémon, much to Basil's dismay. ~Eve! We've got to get back quickly! You said it yourself, it could be dangerous for you around here.~

"But he's hurt!" Eve argued as she finally saw the pokémon in its entirety. Its muzzle, size, and body shape reminded Eve of a poochyena or a houndour. Its coat was still healthy despite his apparent life on the streets, though it was admittedly dim in coloration due to the grime of the city. Fluffy tufts of cream-colored fur stuck out from its chest, head, and tail, and several black stripes featured prominently on the red fur of the legs and body. If not for the wary look in its eye, Eve would have assumed it was just a dirty pet of some city kid.

Crouching down to make herself appear as low to the ground as possible, Eve began to move slowly towards the injured pokémon. The pokémon growled a warning when she was a couple of feet away, though, and Eve knew not to push her luck. She sat down where she stopped, right on the ground of the filthy alleyway.

"I'd like to help if I can, but I won't be able to if you keep growling at me," Eve said softly. "Won't you let me treat your leg? I've got stuff that will make it at least a little better."

The pokémon continued to growl, but he said nothing.

Eve frowned. "The silent treatment, huh? Okay, well, if you're not going to say anything, then I'll keep on talking. The thing is, if you don't get that leg treated in the next day or two, you're going to lose all use of it. And even if you could survive using only three legs, the fact of the matter is, infection will kill you within the next four days."

The growling continued.

~Eve, come on! He obviously doesn't want help,~ Basil said. ~Now let's get out of here before any humans show up.~

Eve shook her head resolutely. "I know you're worried about me, Basil, but I can't just let this pokémon die." Then, turning back to the pokémon in question, she said, "You know, your fur is almost exactly the same color as my hair. I bet it would look really handsome brushed out, just like how mine is pretty when I don't have it in a ponytail. Here, let me show you." Eve took the band out of her hair that until now had been keeping her rather long red hair out of her face. Then, using the hairbrush she pulled from her bag, she started brushing out all the tangles that had accumulated during her extended stay in Ilex forest.

"You see?" Eve said as soon as soon as her hair was smooth once again, completely brushed through except for her small braid with the wartortle hair. "Admittedly, it's not as nice looking as it would be if it was washed. I haven't been to a pokémon center or anywhere I could really rinse it since… Well, since I was in Violet City, I guess. I never stayed at Azalea since Katsu was being such an idiot. So let's see then… By the time I got out of Ilex, I'd spent about two weeks there, and then I had another few days on the way to Azalea, so it's probably been close to three weeks since I've bathed anywhere other than a stream. Which admittedly is fairly equivalent, since I'm carrying shampoo and stuff with me. Still, that's gross by human standards, though I sort of doubt you care too much."

The red, poochyena-like pokémon still said nothing, though his growling had slowly diminished over the course of Eve's carefree rambling. He was still wary, but he was also much calmer than he had been before.

Seeing the change in attitude, Eve ventured a question. "So, would you like to have your fur brushed? It'll feel really good, and you'll look really nice by the time I'm done." Eve scooted closer to the pokémon. He didn't begin growling again, and so Eve took her chance. She gently put her hands around the pokémon's muzzle and moved his head into her lap. Using her brush, she slowly began to brush through the large cream-colored tuft of fur on the top of his head. Eve noticed his tail begin to wag, and she smiled.

Basil was not quite so happy. ~That's all well and good, but we really should get going!~

"Just a little while long-…" A yawn forced Eve to pause. "Sorry. As I was saying when that yawn so rudely interrupted, just wait a little while longer. As soon as this guy let's me treat his wound, we'll go." The pokémon in question didn't hear what Eve was saying; he was already falling asleep in Eve's lap, so soothed was he by the brushing. Eve, too, was starting to dose. The repetitive motion of her arm and the late time of night were certainly having their effect. _But once I have his fur brushed through, I'll wake him and ask if I can… ask if I can treat… the injury…_

…_injury…_

…

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve was awoken from her sleep as the red pokémon leapt from her lap and stood his ground, fur bristling as he glared down the alley. She quickly noticed that Basil, too, was standing at ready. Something was definitely wrong.

On instinct, Eve got to her feet before she even knew what the threat was. Her bag was still on the ground, and as she reached into it to grab Hannah's pokéball, she took stock of the situation.

Five men were walking confidently towards Eve, all aged somewhere in their early to late twenties. Even the smallest was about a head taller than Eve, which wasn't surprising considering Eve's rather shorter-than-average height. Taking into account the size difference, she doubted she could outrun them. Eve pressed the button on the pokéball now in her hand; Hannah appeared, quickly took stock of the situation, and then prepared herself for a battle.

The largest and oldest of the men lead the group, joking and mumbling and pretending not to notice Eve as he approached. He tossed a pokéball up and down in one of his hands.

It wasn't until the red pokémon on Eve's side spat a handful of coal-like fires at the group's feet that the leader finally stopped and looked up, turning his full attention on Eve. "Now that's mighty cruel, having your pokémon attack us before we even get a chance to introduce ourselves to a pretty little girl like yourself," he said as his eyes lingered obviously on Eve's body. The four guys behind him laughed. "You don't look like the normal girls we find around here."

One of the other guys spoke up. "Yeah, any person in this city would know not to sleep on the streets."

"So do you think we've got ourselves a really stupid girl here? Or maybe she just didn't realize how dangerous the streets can be at night?" the lead male said, an ugly smirk on his face. "I hope it's that she didn't realize. It'd be more fun to toy with her then… You know, so we could teach her just what Goldenrod night life is all about."

The group laughed harder as Eve's heart pounded. There had been some guys like this at her high school, so it wasn't as if she'd never been exposed to these kinds of attitudes before. _But I've never been left alone with them, at night, where no one else will help even if I scream for it. Not good, not good, not good!_

"Oh, and you see that pokémon there?" another of the guys asked his friends, pointing to the red pokémon and momentarily interrupting Eve's thoughts. "That there's a growlithe. My dad used to nab 'em from rich people's houses, skin 'em, and sell the fur for a quick buck. Nowadays, you can easily get a thousand bucks for even the dirtiest pelt, they're so rare. And those Rocket guys who are always looking for new recruits will gladly buy even stolen pokémon. The chikorita with the weird leaf could also be sold for a high price."

The leader smiled wickedly. "It seems like we've hit the jackpot here, if that's the case! A pretty little lady and over a thousand dollars worth of pokémon! Now, little lady, why don't you just return your pokémon to their pokéballs and come along with us. If you're entertaining enough, maybe we'll even give you back that pikachu when we're done."

Basil sparked angrily, and Hannah readied her four vines. ~There's no way we're letting you jerks get to Eve!~ Basil said, though they of course didn't hear him.

Eve stayed where she was, trembling. She was completely paralyzed with fear, and she couldn't think straight about what she should do.

The leader of the group frowned at Eve's noncooperation as he looked at Eve's three battle-ready pokémon. "Isn't that a shame. Boys, I guess we'll have to battle for our prize, won't we?" He opened his pokéball, and the red energy that emerged formed into a poochyena. It growled menacingly, and Eve knew that there would be no convincing it away from its trainer's orders; even if the poochyena was nice at heart, very few pokémon would ever disobey a trainer while in battle.

Each of the other guys followed suit by summoning their own poochyena, making the battle a five-versus-three. Eve didn't like those odds. Even if one of the pokémon on her side hadn't been injured, she _still_ wouldn't have liked those odds.

"All right, pack," the leader said. "Pulverize the pokémon in our way."

As the pack charged, Eve finally came to her senses. Before the poochyena could reach their targets, Eve rushed forward and grabbed the growlithe. "Hannah and Basil, fight them off as best you can!" Then, looking at the squirming pokémon in her arms, Eve said, "Okay, that guy said you're a growlithe, so that's what I'm calling you for now. So listen up. You need to get out of here. I might survive this, but if they catch you, then you won't live. So go!" Eve practically threw the growlithe down to the ground, doing her best to get him away from the alley. She didn't watch to see if he really left or not; she had other things to do.

She turned back to the battle as she took her cell phone from her pocket. Hannah was dealing quite well against her three poochyena attackers; using her vines, she had leashed them and was practically strangling them. Even so, she was fading fast. It was taking all her concentration and strength to hold them away from her body, and even then they were slowly pushing closer. Basil was being attacked by the remaining two poochyena, but it was clear that even one would have outmatched him. Though the dark-types didn't dare bite down on Basil for long due to the electricity sparking from the pikachu's body, the attacks they did manage had almost knocked Basil out already. He was just barely staying on his feet.

Eve started to dial for the police, but one of the guys saw her. "Poochyena, stop her!" he shouted. One of the poochyena immediately broke off from its attack on Basil and charged straight for Eve. Before she could even react, the poochyena had leaped up onto her chest, knocking her to the ground as it bit into her hand, forcing her to drop the phone. Eve screamed in pain as the fangs sunk into her skin, though the poochyena held back just enough of its power to prevent any of the fragile bones from snapping.

The poochyena kept his grip on her hand for only a few moments before letting go to face another enemy. The poochyena didn't have time to fully face his new opponent before the growlithe from earlier crashed into it, sending it tumbling to the concrete beside Eve.

Heart still pounding and mind half muddied with pain, Eve ignored the fact that the growlithe had come back. Instead, she sat up and turned to see where her cell phone had fallen. It wasn't too far away, but it was in pieces; the main part was in one place, and the battery and the back panel were nearby. Even if it did still work, she wasn't even sure if she'd be able to get it back together. Not with her right hand in pain and bleeding heavily.

She looked back to the battle instead and saw that things weren't going well. It looked like one of the poochyena had managed to take a bite out of Hannah's leaf, and Basil had just been knocked out. The poochyena that had been fighting Basil now joined the other three Hannah was fighting off. He barked something to his comrades and suddenly, all four of them charged, catching Hannah off guard. Her vines lost their grip and she was sent flying back towards a trashcan.

The poochyena pursued their fallen prey, apparently going for the kill. Despite the pain clouding her mind, Eve couldn't stand to see that happen. She dashed forward and dove to grab Hannah, putting her own human body in the path of the four poochyena. The pack wasn't picky who their victim was; they did their best to bite down on Eve's back and sides, though both were too awkward a target to really sink their fangs in. Eve screamed nonetheless, but just like before, no one in this sort of neighborhood would answer a cry for help. The leader of the group of guys quickly called the poochyena off, but Eve hardly noticed the absence of the poochyena. Something was happening to the chikorita in her arms that took all of her attention.

Hannah was glowing faintly and changing rapidly, and it took Eve's overloaded brain a few moments to comprehend that she was evolving. In height, she was growing about a foot, and in her body was gaining maybe twice that in length. Her legs became longer and more muscular, and the purple buds around her neck grew into curled-up, violet colored leaves. The leaf on her head retained the bite hole as it lengthened, and that combined with the new pale yellow color of her body gave her an almost withered look.

The glow faded as the changes slowed, and Hannah – now nearly four feet tall at the top of her head – struggled to her feet. ~I am most definitely _not_ going to be defeated by a bunch of mutts,~ she said, hurling herself at the pack. She easily knocked one of the poochyena off of its feet and started beating the others with her vines, but Eve could tell that Hannah was too tired to keep that pace up for long.

_Despite her miraculous evolution into a bayleef, all the damage from before still remains_. Even as Eve thought this, the fifth poochyena joined the rest of his pack; the growlithe was too exhausted from his leg injury to keep battling. _And now our odds are even further reduced._

As Hannah continued to battle the pack, the five men started walking around the battle towards Eve. Hannah tried to stop them, but the pack kept the bayleef away from the humans in spite of the narrowness of the alley. Eve stepped back on instinct, but she didn't run. There was no way that she could abandon Hannah, Basil, and the growlithe, even if staying didn't help them at all. To her horror, the leader of the group pulled out a knife as he stepped closer. And still Eve didn't move.

The group circled her, and the leader stepped just behind Eve. She was absolutely terrified, but she stayed looking forward even as she felt the knife against her throat. "Call off that bayleef," the man whispered in her ear as he stood barely an inch behind her.

"H-Hannah, you can stop," Eve said, terribly conscious of the cool touch of metal on her neck. Hannah heard Eve and saw the knife, and she immediately stopped her battle. The poochyena stayed in a circle around the still-tensed bayleef, growling and snarling.

Tears trickled down Eve's face as she choked back a sob.

"Aw, what's the matter?" the leader said in mock concern as he leaned his face over Eve's shoulder. "We're going to treat you like a real woman tonight." The men encircling Eve grinned menacingly. "And I'm so happy that I've got a bayleef to sell that I promise to give you your pikachu back. We'll even bandage up that hand of yours so that you don't die of blood loss before the night is over. Don't all you guys think this young girl is getting an amazing deal?"

The guys laughed and agreed, and more tears trickled down Eve's cheeks as despair engulfed her.

"Anyway, let's just head back to my place, where we can get a little more… comfortable," the leader said, putting his knife away and reluctantly stepping away from Eve's body. "Just return your pokémon to their pokéballs and we'll get going."

But before Eve could move, a female voice spoke up from behind her and the group of guys, from the entrance of the alleyway. "So am I too late for a battle, then?"

Eve spun around, her heart soaring as she recognized the voice. _I'm saved… _Hope was standing just outside of the alley, the lights from the street silhouetting her face. Her houndour stood beside her, growling angrily at the guys grouped around Eve.

"Of course you're not too late for a battle," the leader said, smiling sadistically. "One girl to occupy all five of us for the night was just a bit too little, in my opinion. Two girls would be better."

Despite the dim lighting, Eve could tell that Hope was completely unfazed by the comment. Her houndour, on the other hand, was nowhere near as emotionless. Unable to control himself, the houndour hurled herself at top speed into the group, coming to a stop at Eve's feet. The fire-type seemed absolutely enraged at the group and unreasonably protective of Eve, despite the fact that Eve had never actually spoken with her.

Eve dropped down and put her arms around the houndour's neck, immeasurably glad to have something in between herself and some of the guys who still surrounded her. "But why are you coming to my rescue, Houndour?" Eve whispered into the houndour's ear. "It seems like Hope wants to battle, not protect me. Though it amounts to the same thing."

~Do you remember when you stopped the battle between the totodile and me?~ the houndour growled, staring down any of the guys who stood too close. ~You reminded me exactly of a houndour in my pack when I lived in the wild. Except at that point in time, I was the one in the totodile's position. The houndour you remind me of kept me from being killed by stronger members of the pack, and every time I see you, I see her as well. And I'm not like my human. Though I want to get stronger at any cost, I want to help those who aren't strong, as well. If that means burning these idiots into ash, then that's exactly what I'll do!~

Then – to Eve's complete amazement – she watched as the houndour's body began to glow with a red energy, almost as if a fire burned just beneath her fur. _It can't be… Two evolutions in one night! It's hard enough to believe that Hannah, whom I've known for barely two months, has already evolve. Even if Hannah does train constantly, it's still incredible. And while I'm sure Hope's houndour is strong enough to evolve, it's still hard to believe the coincidence._

But sure enough, the houndour's body was growing and changing, just like Hannah's had done a few minutes ago. The bony plate on her forehead morphed into long, curved horns, her stub of a tail grew into something long and whipping, and her muzzle lengthened considerably. The size of her body was the most noticeable change; whereas she'd only been about two feet tall as a houndour, her new body was over twice that.

"Isn't that interesting," Hope said, though her flat tone of voice indicated exactly the opposite. "My houndour evolved into a houndoom. I've heard that a burn inflicted by a houndoom's flames never stops burning. I guess I can test the myth now."

The guys suddenly seemed much less brave than they had been. _Perhaps there's something about seeing a hellhound in a dark alley that strikes fear into the hearts of people like this. Or maybe they just realize that they're completely outmatched._

"Just forget it," the leader said, backing away from the houndoom. "We'll leave you girls alone for now. But if we catch you back in our area again, you'll be sorry!" The guys walked slowly out of the alley, trying to act as if they were leaving of their own accord. Only their constant glances back towards the houndoom showed how they truly felt. They returned their poochyena to their pokéballs on their way out the other side of the alley, though they didn't dare try to take any of Eve's pokémon, as they had threatened earlier.

As soon as they were gone, Eve hugged the houndoom all the tighter. "Thank you so much! I was so scared! And Hope, thank you so much for coming!"

"I heard your screams and came for a battle," Hope said. "Even though I didn't get it, Houndour evolved. I guess that makes it worth my time. I'll be heading back to the pokémon center now. I'm starting to get tired."

"Oh, please wait for me!" Eve said, gathering up her bag, the pieces of her phone, and her pokéballs. "Let me just get my stuff, and I'll come with you! I don't want something like that to happen to me again on the way back!"

Eve quickly returned both Basil and Hannah to their pokéballs; both were too tired to protest. It wasn't until she came to the growlithe that she was forced to pause, deciding how to convince him to come along. He was still conscious; his body was simply too tired to stand. "Growlithe, you're even more wounded now, and I really think that I need to get you to a pokémon center." Eve pulled out an empty pokéball. "Would you mind-"

~There's no need to even ask, Miss!~ the growlithe interrupted, talking for the first time that night. ~I've been trying and trying and trying to find a human who I want to protect, and after what you did for me, you're definitely that human! Please let me come with you! I'll defend you to my dying breath, that I promise!~

Eve smiled, though the trembling of her body showed how upset she still was. "There's no need to do that. I was just glad to help! But if you want to go with me, then you're more than welcome to come along. For now, you'll need to get into the pokéball, so that I can get you to somewhere to fix that leg of yours."

~If that's what you want me to do, then I'm perfectly fine with that,~ the growlithe said. And when Eve held out the pokéball, he happily let himself be caught.

Once that was done, Eve straightened up and turned back to Hope, who had recalled her houndoom. "Okay, I'm ready to go. And thanks again for helping me, even if it's not what you wanted to do," Eve said.

Hope shrugged and wordlessly started walking down the street. Eve followed closely behind. Though finally safe, the feelings and memories of earlier continued to flood through her thoughts every time they passed an alley or side street, making her feel exceedingly paranoid.

_First that flying beast in the past, and now this… Pokémon and humans… Both potential nightmares._

_

* * *

_

The original version of this chapter was a lot worse language-wise... So this is the edited, T-rated version. ^_^ As dark as the fanfiction gets, cursing has never been quite my style... Even edited, this is still one of my favorite chapters. I hope that doesn't make me too sadistic... Although I do have a tendency to like best the chapters that turn out worst for my characters... So I probably am a bit of a sadist... Oh well.

Anyway, did anyone catch the hidden pokémon in this chapter? You know, like how (if you didn't figure it out at the time) Mr. Terruf's last name is actually 'furret' backwards. I just love adding random stuff like that in every now and then. :)

So yeah, etcetera etcetera, I like waffles, whatever... I'm kind of exhausted right now, which leads to random stuff like this current ramble... -_- I've been practicing mornings and after school all week in preparation for a flash mob dance thing my friends and I are doing at our school, and that in addition to spirit week activities and homework has just about killed me. To be or not to be, that is the question...


	12. Seeing Clearly

**Chapter Twelve: Seeing Clearly**

A knock interrupted Eve as she was re-wrapping her right hand in gauze the next morning. She wondered if someone maybe was knocking on the wrong door; Hope was the only one who knew that Eve had checked into the pokémon center, after all, and Eve somehow doubted that Hope would be dropping by to say hello.

Eve quickly finished covering her hand, and then hurried over and opened her door. The brunette woman waiting outside the door was completely unfamiliar except for the rather recognizable uniform that all pokémon center nurses wore. She was in her mid-forties by Eve's guess, and her rather ruffled hair gave her the appearance of being worn-out.

"Hello, can I help you?" Eve said, wondering what the nurse wanted.

"Actually, it's probably more of a case of me helping you," the nurse said, a somewhat disheveled smile on her face. "Though it's been quite the busy morning for me already, and you might be able to alleviate that somehow. Would you mind if I come in?"

Eve smiled back. Whoever this was, she had a very casual and friendly demeanor that made Eve like her immediately. "You can come in as long as you tell me who it is I'm speaking to," Eve said as she stepped aside, making room for the nurse to come in.

The woman stepped inside, closing the door behind. "Don't I have my nametag on…? Oh, darn, I forgot it again," the lady said as she looked down at her shirt. "Sorry for not introducing myself, then. I'm Lauren Smith, and I head up the pokémon center here in Goldenrod. I actually heard about you from Head Nurse Sara when you first started working at the center in Cherrygrove – Sara and I are good friends, you see – and I've sort of been following your escapades since that unown thing in Violet. So I thought I'd just drop by, introduce myself, and warn you about a couple of things."

"Warn me?" Eve asked. "About what?"

Lauren waved her hand, brushing away the question. "Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Good news first. The emergency doctors worked on your three pokémon when you came in late last night. Your bayleef and pikachu are perfectly fine already, and you can pick them up at the front counter whenever you need. I was worried about the growlithe when I first heard about the injury, but I saw him this morning, and he seemed to be doing fine. He'll be as good as new after three days or so of rest here at the center."

"That's great to hear!" Eve said excitedly. "I mean, I've helped with infections before, so I thought it would be okay, but I was still worried. So what did you need to warn me about, then?"

Lauren took off her glasses and started wiping them with her shirt before she answered. "Well, I guess it's like this. After that radio broadcast you did yesterday, everyone knows you're in Goldenrod. Most of them guessed that you're staying here. And there are tons of people who would love to have you translate their pokémon's thoughts, and so they've all gathered here. I've pushed them all outside, but there are still quite a few people waiting around, hoping to talk to you."

Eve frowned. "I hope that didn't cause you too much trouble… I never thought that people would want to come find me."

"That's not the least of it, though," Lauren said as she put her glasses back on and started toying with a strand of hair that was hanging loose from her messy bun of brown hair. "All the City Council members are blaming you for the relative failure of the pidgey poisoning, which I commend you for stopping, by the way. That was such a horrible thing to do. All we're doing is dividing humans and pokémon more and more. I pray to Lugia that one day we might instead use our city's money to stop the massive gang problem we have here."

"Tell me about it," Eve said, shivering at the thought of the gang from last night.

Lauren took the phrase as a literal invitation to explain the issue further. "All the rich people who manage to have quite the influence on the Council don't want to acknowledge that our city has the worst gang problem of any city in the entire Kanto-Johto continent. They waste their time on stupid things like bird poop rather than the crime problems our city has. If they spent a fraction of the money they spend on frivolous thing on more police instead, we'd certainly have much less of a problem."

Eve nodded sympathetically, then said, "But I think we got a little bit off topic again. Why were you warning me about the City Council?"

"Oh, that's right," Lauren said. "The Council members who voted against the pidgey measure are congratulating you. However, the majority of the Council members voted for the poisoning act, and they've already started speaking out against you for the failed murder of about a thousand pidgey. And while most of the citizens don't feel too strongly about the pidgey issue, there are some who might criticize you when they get the chance. Some might even take action against you; flying bricks aren't completely unheard of in Goldenrod politics. I'd suggest keeping one of your pokémon out with you at all times as an extra set of eyes."

"Um, okay. Thanks for the advice," Eve said, not sure exactly how to think of the situation. "To be honest, I'm really not sure what I'm planning on doing today. Maybe I won't even have to leave the pokémon center. I could help out here if you need it-"

"I'm going to decline that offer before you go any further," Lauren interrupted. "We don't have any cases that are too difficult right now, and more than anything, I want the crowds away from my pokémon center. Especially if the aforementioned brick throwing occurs."

Eve tried to think of what else she could do during the day. "I could challenge the gym here, even if it means going outside. I know that Hannah would like that."

"Hannah?"

"My chikorita. Or, actually, I guess she's a bayleef now," Eve explained.

Comprehension dawned on Lauren's face, as did a strong look of approval at the proposition. "I think that would be a great idea. People always love supporting hopeful trainers as they challenge gym leaders. And if you could get in good with Whitney, the gym leader, then all the better. She's about the only one who dares roam the streets alone at night – aside from her pokémon, that is – and she's got some respect with the rougher crowds because of it. If you can get her to like you, than a majority of the city will side with her. Aside from that, you might actually like to get to know her a little. She's got a great personality, even if she sees pokémon training as more of a game than anything. And she's only a few years older than you, I think."

"Does she treat her pokémon well, at least?"

Lauren nodded. "Sure, sure, that's not the problem. But even though she trains her pokémon well, she sees them more as stupid pets to be pampered than anything. A reflection of herself, you might say."

The more Eve thought about it, the more she liked the of taking on the gym challenge in Goldenrod. _A gym battle might be just the thing to get my mind off of last night… And I'm sure Hannah is itching for a battle now that she evolved. _"I think challenging a gym is just what my pokémon and I need. As for today… first I'll go to that park I saw just down the street, so that we can do a little bit of prep before the battle; hopefully the crowd will leave me alone after a while. Then I'll see if I can schedule a gym battle for today. Thanks for the warnings and the suggestions!"

"Not a problem," Lauren said, though she was staring out the window as she said. "I guess I'll be off then, as well; good luck with life in the limelight." She left the room without once meeting Eve's eyes again. If first impressions were anything to go by, Head Nurse Lauren was scatterbrained but nice. Eve definitely looked forward to talking to her again.

But first thing was first: Eve had to face the crowds.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It took Eve close to an hour to get out to the park, even though it was only a little over two blocks from the pokémon center. There were about twenty people milling about waiting for her when she first came out of the pokémon center, and more people crowded around as soon as they saw what the commotion was. Many of these people had a pet with them, and Eve was too nice to turn them down when they wanted her to ask the pets a couple of questions. Some people even offered to pay her for it, though Eve refused. She had enough money saved up that she didn't need to worry about that for a while, especially when she almost always had the option of working at whatever pokémon center was close by.

When Eve finally got to the park and let Hannah out to join Basil and herself, she siged. "Maybe I should dye my hair. I think that's how people are able to recognize me so quickly, and so why I just couldn't get away from them all." The park was the one place where a person could let out multiple pokémon, and Eve was glad to really talk to both of her friends for the first time since last night.

Much of the crowds had dissipated by now. Only ten or so people still hung around, but they were at least watching Eve at a distance. Unnerving, yes. Disruptive, no. She chose to ignore the people and continued to a different topic of conversation. "But anyway, let's have a look at you!" She said as she got her first really good look at the newly-evolved bayleef. "I can't believe you evolved so quickly! With other chikorita, totodile, and cyndaquil, it usually takes four years at minimum to evolve. But you've been training for just under two months and you've already evolved! Then again, you were strong to begin with, and you've been training so much that I'm glad to see that it paid off!"

Basil walked over to Hannah and stood on his toes, though he still had to look straight upward to see her face. Hannah bent down her long neck so that their noses met. ~So when did this happen, exactly?~ Basil asked. ~Was this after I got knocked out?~

~Yeah, though I still wasn't able to help, even though I'd evolved…" Hannah said, ashamed. ~If Hope hadn't come, I don't like to think what might have happened. Even as hard as I tried, I couldn't stop Eve from getting hurt.~ She used a vine and pointed to Eve's right hand. Only the fingers were visible; the rest of her hand was wrapped in several layers of gauze.

~That wasn't even your fault,~ Basil said. ~I'm the one who couldn't even keep two poochyena occupied. You managed to hold off three at once.~

Eve sat down next to Hannah and picked up Basil. "Come on, you guys, don't be like that! If anything, it's my fault for being out there in the first place. It was scary, but we got out of it all right, and we managed to help that growlithe. Speaking of the growlithe, what would you guys think if he joined us? He really wants to, and I don't think he'll take no as an answer."

Basil tilted his head curiously. ~Why does he insist on it now? He didn't even want to talk last night,~ he asked; both he and Hannah had been in their pokéballs when Eve had finally talked to the growlithe the previous night.

"After I tried to protect him last night, he wants to protect me, I guess," Eve said.

~If that's the case, then I think he's more than welcome,~ Basil said. ~Especially since I can't protect you at all…~

Hannah's leaves drooped. ~Yeah, same here…~

"Aw, come one you guys! What's with the gloomy attitudes?" Eve said. "Hannah, you just evolved, and that's something to be very proud of. And Basil, you may not be powerful, but that's not a bad thing. You're size can be a good thing, I'm sure of it. We just have to figure out how. So how about we get your confidence up with a gym battle? We can figure out some strategy here, and then go over and see when we can schedule a battle."

Hannah perked up noticeably. ~Yeah, that's just the thing! We'll definitely get stronger if we battle more and train more~!

~Maybe,~ Basil said, not nearly as optimistic.

Eve got up and brushed herself off, determined to get her friends' minds off of the previous night and back onto training. However, before she could do anything, a voice rang through her head.

_Oh? You're certainly an interesting person. No wonder my human has been looking for you._

Based on her experience in slowpoke well, Eve could tell that it was telepathy, though the pokémon 'speaking' was definitely not the old slowpoke.

Eve looked around her for the source of the telepathy, and her eyes eventually settled on a man walking towards her. Or, rather, she was looking just above his head at the abra that was sitting on his shoulders. The abra was riding his trainer just like a child might sit upon the shoulders of a father, with its arms wrapped around his forehead and chin resting in the hair on top of his head. On both of its arms were blue bands with a symbol on them that Eve knew she ought to recognize.

_The armbands show that I'm a 'seeing-eye pokémon', _the voice said again, as if it had read her mind. It was definitely the abra talking, Eve was sure of it now. _I help my human see._

The human in question had stopped now, only a foot or two away from Eve. Eve, however, was still concentrated on the abra. "I'm sorry, Abra, but can you talk like other pokémon? My head's already starting to hurt, and I don't want another telepathy-induced migraine. It's happened to me before, and I didn't like it."

The abra lifted his head, and though he kept his eyes closed, Eve got the feeling that he had just woken up. ~Fine then. If you're going to be picky about it, I guess I have no choice. It'd be just as well if I stop talking for the moment, I suppose; my human is getting impatient, but he doesn't want to interrupt when he knows we're having a conversation.~ The abra tapped his human on the head, and then said to the person, ~Alright, go ahead and introduce yourself, if you must.~

To Eve's amazement, the human must really have understood that the abra was finished, for he did in fact introduce himself. "I'm Mark Abra, and my abra's name is Tim. Head Nurse Lauren told my I might find you here. I was wondering if there was any chance I might talk to you about something. You're not too busy, are you?"

"I'm Eve," Eve said absently as she looked back and forth from Tim to Mark. "But… but… Can you understand your abra, or something? I didn't know anyone could do anything like that, aside from me."

"I _wish_ I could understand Tim," Mark said, laughing slightly at Eve's confusion. "But I do know when he's talking, and I can sometimes understand his general meaning if he's telling me something important. Mostly, he just helps me see."

Now that Eve looked at Mark more closely, she finally noticed the milky white film that covered his eyes. Other than that and his abra, though, he seemed to be quite the average guy. He was in his early twenties, so he was probably only two or three years older than Eve. He was about a head taller than Eve, which meant he was a rather normal height. His brown hair, somewhat tan complexion, and jeans and t-shirt outfit only added to his ordinary appearance. He had a pokéball-holding belt around his waist, which was also fairly common for male trainers.

Despite all this, Eve had the feeling that this trainer was far from ordinary. Even aside from what he'd just said about his abra, he had a certain aura about him that seemed to indicate strength and determination. _And he speaks about his abra, Tim, almost like an equal. He even acknowledges that Tim can talk, which is something that most people don't believe. _Eve had quite a few questions floating through her head, bouncing about as they waited to be asked. Wisely, Eve decided to start with the simplest of them. Completely ignoring the fact that Mark had something to say, she asked, "Why's your last name Abra? Did you change it or something?"

Mark grinned and his cloudy eyes seemed to light up with amusement. "I was expecting a question more like, 'what was it that you wanted to talk to me about', or something like that. But I'm in no rush to get to that, so I'll go ahead and say that I changed my name in part to honor Timmy here, and partly as a political gimmick. It's not exactly a secret."

"Oh? You're involved in politics?" Eve asked. "I always picture old guys with white hair as lawmakers."

Mark looked at Eve questioningly. _For someone who's blind, her certainly has a good sense of where to look to meet someone else's eyes. I'm guessing that's thanks to Tim._

"Do you really not know who I am, then?" Mark asked without arrogance. "Most people know who I am by my name, or by seeing Tim."

"Your name does sound familiar," Eve admitted, "But I've never followed politics. I only just reached voting age last year, and there hasn't been an election since then. I suppose I probably should figure who the representative for trainers is, now that I'm registered as one. Isn't that representative position called the Drakeîn or something?"

Mark's friendly smile turned into a mischievous grin as he answered politely, "Yeah, some people do call the Trainer Representative the Drakeîn. It comes from an ancient word meaning, 'to see clearly', which is something any candidate must do if he hopes to be elected to such an important position. Also, the word 'drakeîn' is the origin for the word 'dragon', and that sort of symbolizes the power of the position."

"You certainly know a lot about it," Eve said. "Personally, I've never liked politics much. I think it's sad to see how angry people can get at each other, especially when each side has valid points that the other side won't recognize… It also disappoints me that so many laws are passed without the consideration of pokémon. I still remember when Cherrygrove City approved a factory to be built just outside of town. A lot of pokémon were killed when construction was started, and plenty of others lost their den or nest. I was eight at the time, and it scared me quite a bit." Eve sighed and sat down on the ground, saddened by the memory. Basil and Hannah settled down in the grass next to her, trying to cheer her up with their presence.

Mark sat down on the grassy slope in front of her. "Sorry if I brought back any bad memories. That definitely wasn't my intention when I brought up the matter of politics. However, I do have something to say that might cheer you up: there's something you can do to keep stuff like that from happening."

"What do you mean by that?" Eve asked, thoroughly puzzled.

"The truth is, I'm the representative for trainers in the National Legislature of Johto," Mark said. "Some call me the Drakeîn, as you mentioned already. And as the Drakeîn, I'm convinced that with your support, I might be able to get some laws passed for the benefit of pokémon."

"Really?" Eve said. "I suppose that explains why your name is so familiar, then. I only just registered as a trainer a couple months ago, so I hope that excuses me for not knowing who you are. But anyway, I suppose I'm getting off track. Exactly how do you think I can help get laws passed? I don't even know the first thing about how the Johto Government works."

The excitement in Mark's voice was evident as he answered, "Trust me; with the sort of reputation you're gaining, popularity alone should be enough to help. You see, when I first campaigned for my office about three years ago, I did it because I knew that pokémon deserve to be treated better than they are now. So far, I haven't been able to make much progress, and there are so many different issues that need to be addressed. But with you, I'm confident we can get some of those issues taken care of, perhaps on a national level."

"Like what specifically?" Eve asked.

"A law against cruelty towards pokémon needs to be created, for one. Something that might stop mass eradications, like what almost happened to the pidgey here. An amendment to the Pokémon Abuse Act should be passed, defining the difference between abuse and training. Right now, there are plenty of people who abuse their pets, and if accused of violating that act, they simply claim they were 'toughening up' their pokémon for battle. It's an absolute disgrace. Also, the treatment of pokémon raised for meat is a concern; I won't try to stop humans from eating pokémon, but the pokemon do need to be treated more humanely before that happens. Oh, and sport capturing for trophies and for pelts ought to be outlawed, and-"

"Okay, I think I get the picture," Eve said, stopping Mark before he could continue. _I'm impressed… Even if he says he hasn't been able to get much done, he certainly has high goals for what needs to be changed. _"But do you really think anyone will listen to me? I'm not afraid of public speaking too much, but to be truthful, I'm not very eloquent. And as I said before, I know next to nothing about the government."

Mark's enthusiasm wasn't dampened by what Eve was pointing out. If anything, he seemed to grow even more animated. "Actually, I don't think you'll have to worry about your speaking abilities at all. I mean, I can teach you all you need to know about government. And I think that if you just act like yourself and speak your mind, then people will be glad to hear you. Judging by only these few minutes talking to you, I can tell that you have a very honest and naïve disposition. While some people might criticize you for being unqualified for a big crusade like this based on similar judgments, I guarantee you that most people will love you and want to believe your positions because you're so likeable. You have qualities that would make you terrible as a politician; complete honesty is decidedly not the best policy if you want to be in office. But in an actual campaign, you'll be great at gathering support. And your unique ability will give you the credibility you need on the issues I already mentioned."

"Wait, naïve? Are you making fun of me?" Eve asked.

Mark laughed in response. "Really, it's a good thing. As I said, I think it'll make you more likeable."

~But how can you trust someone who openly admits that lying is good when politics are concerned?~ Basil asked. ~Don't get me wrong, though. I really think he means every word he's saying. It's just a thought.~

Eve didn't think Mark was lying, either, but she thought the matter might be a good thing to bring up before she promised anything. "Basil just brought up a good point. How do I know I can trust you? What if you're just trying to boost your own name recognition through a campaign supported by the weird girl who can understand pokémon?"

He thought for a moment on how to respond. "I suppose you can't necessarily trust me, though I assure you that I wouldn't be in politics if it wasn't for the sake of pokémon. I absolutely hate all the campaigning, and the long and complicated wording on new laws and bills. But you could ask Tim if I'm telling the truth, if you'd believe him. Or I recall that you were working at the Violet City pokémon center, correct?"

Eve nodded.

"In that case, then you can ask Dr. Catherine Means. And if you're from Cherrygrove, then you could call Dr. Sara Miller, too. In fact, I've spent enough time training and traveling in the Johto region that I know just about all the head nurses of the pokémon centers. The head nurse here, Lauren, is even sort of a role model for me. I grew up in Goldenrod, and when I first lost my eyesight, she did her best to help the ophthalmologists. And when Tim and I joined up a few months after that, she was always the one who liked to check in and try to figure out exactly how Tim's psychic powers were helping me to see."

Eve considered what he was saying for a few moments. "For now, I trust your intentions," she eventually said. "Even if you're lying and your intentions aren't great, I suppose it doesn't matter. As long as you're working for the benefit of pokémon, then I'll help as best I can,"

Mark smiled triumphantly. "So I can plan on having your help, then?"

"Yeah," Eve confirmed. "On a rather unrelated note, my curiosity has now been awoken. How did you become blind? You made it sound like you weren't born with it." As an afterthought, she added, "That is, if you don't mind talking about it."

"I was a bit foolish when I when I was seven years old. That's how I was blinded," Mark said, sounding not too terribly troubled at the topic of conversation. "I wanted a pokémon of my own, so I slipped away from my parents one day and looked for one on the city streets. I came upon a grimer, and it spat acid into my face. That's why Lauren from the pokémon center was involved. She had methods for neutralizing the corrosion of pokémon-created acids. Without her, I would have lost my entire face, and not just my eyesight. Thanks to her, I'm still alive and the facial scarring from the acid is faint. But eyes can't heal like the skin can."

Eve brought a hand up and manually closed one of her eyelids, trying to imagine how she would get by without sight. "That must stink."

Mark chuckled at Eve's frankness. "It's actually not as bad as you might think, especially since I've got Tim. His psychic abilities help a lot. True, I still can't see 2-D things like words and images… His awareness doesn't extend to that. But I can also see a lot more now, in a sense. For about thirty feet in any direction, I now know exactly where any trees, walls, or other things are, even if they are completely out of my vision. I can also judge the general strength of a human or pokémon at any time, as well as tell where a pokémon's weakest point is; as you might imagine, this is great for battling. _And_I can often sense the emotional state of people and pokémon around me, even if they're doing their best to conceal it."

"I take back what I said then; maybe it's not too bad," Eve said. "Pokémon might be easy to decipher, but humans and their whims are usually much too complicated for me to figure out. Reading emotions would be nice to see what humans really feel."

"You talk as if you're not a human," Mark commented.

Eve shrugged. "Maybe I'm not. At least, not completely. I don't know for sure. Basil, what do you think?"

The pikachu twitched his nose thoughtfully. ~You look like a human, that much is obvious. But you communicate and act and think nothing like other humans, as far as I can tell. Though I can't quite put my tail on it, there's a definite difference between human and pokémon demeanor, and you fall well within the pokémon side of that line.~

~I second that thought,~ Hannah said. ~You seem much more like a pokémon to me. And much more sensible than a human, as well.~

~I agree as well, based only on this conversation,~ Tim said from Mark's shoulders, still avoiding the use of telepathy for Eve's sake.

Eve wasn't surprised. "Hannah, Basil, and even Tim agree with me," she said to Mark. "They think I look like a human, but act like a pokémon. I've talked with plenty of other pokémon on this issue, too, and they all say more or less the same thing. Maybe that's why I'm able to talk to pokémon. Or maybe my ability to talk to pokémon actually influenced why I act like I do. Who knows?"

"They all think you act like a pokémon, huh?" Mark said. "That's certainly interesting. You might be unique, but I wouldn't have gone quite so far as to say that you act like a pokémon."

Tim spoke up in reply. ~Tell Mark that even though I help him see a lot, it can't completely overcome how oblivious humans are. Even the most insightful human can't observe what even the simplest of pokémon can understand in a single glance. And Mark is far from the most perceptive of people if you don't take into account the psychic abilities I've helped him obtain.~

Eve related the message, and Mark playfully pulled the abra off of his head for a few moments and held him out in front of him. "So the first thing you have translated to me is a criticism? I can't say I expected much better from a trouble-maker like you, Tim."

Looking at Mark and Tim, an almost overwhelming feeling of happiness filled Eve. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen someone treat a pokémon as an equal. At least, no one I've met does it as wholeheartedly as you. It's really refreshing to see that it's possible. So how did you even meet Tim? I've never heard of a pokémon like abra being used to help a blind person."

"You've never seen a seeing-eye abra because Tim and I were the first to make such a relationship work, and it hasn't been replicated since," Mark said. "It was almost like fate. My family and I were walking in Johto National Park, which is just outside of Goldenrod City. This was a few months after I'd been blinded, so I was of course staying very close to my parents. But that place is infested with bug-types, and we ended up being ambushed by a group of beedrill. I tripped in the confusion when my parents started running away. They saw that the beedrill were chasing them and not me, though, so they continued to run to draw the danger away from me.

"I was scared. I was alone, I couldn't see, and I didn't know where my parents had gone. And this is where the fate part comes in. You see, while I was sitting on the ground, I felt something brush my skin. I grabbed it, and I quickly guessed that it was some part of a pokémon due to its warmth. Whatever it was, it was thin; my guess is that it was either a vine or a tail. Either way, this tail or vine or whatever pulled me up and led me through the forest until I bumped into Tim, though at the time I had no idea what he was. He apparently took a liking to me, because he immediately teleported onto my shoulders. His presence comforted me so much that even when my parents found me, I hardly ever let him away from my side. I had always been scared since I'd been blinded, and it calmed me to feel his presence with me, even when I couldn't see the people who were even a foot in front of me."

Yet again, Eve tried to imagine what it would be like to be blind, but this time at age seven. She shuddered at the resulting thought. "I was scared of enough things when I was seven, and that was with sight. I can understand how frightening it would have been for you, especially if you were still getting used to being blind. So you didn't start to see things with Tim's power right away?"

Mark shook his head. "No. In fact, when I started being able to sense objects a few months after I met up with Tim, I didn't truly notice right away. It happened very gradually, and it took me a while to figure out that Tim was the source of my new half-sight. Now that I've been around Tim for over fourteen years, I can even keep up my 'vision' without his help, though all aspects of my mind sight are diminished significantly if he's not around to help. Now, if you're done with your curiosity-fueled questions, do you mind if I ask a few of my own?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," Eve replied, guessing that he would ask more about her ability for communicating with pokémon.

"What exactly happened to you in Ilex Forest?" Mark asked, contrary to Eve's expectations. "The police report says that you just wandered off, but I'm not buying it. And don't try to lie; with Tim around, only the most practiced liars can get away without telling the truth."

Tim hit his master on the head. ~Don't go inflating your abilities too much, Mark.~ The abra turned to Eve. ~Unless you're really, really guilty or uncomfortable with lying, then there's no way he can really tell anything.~

"From what Tim says, you're doing a bit of lying yourself," Eve said, crossing her arms though she was more amused than anything. "Though it probably doesn't make much difference… I'm such a terrible liar that even the most dimwitted human can tell if I'm not being honest."

"We're getting away from the original question," Mark said, unperturbed that his fib had been exposed. "So what really happened in Ilex?"

Eve frowned at the return to subject. "When I agreed to answer some questions, I didn't think you were going to ask _that_. It's not exactly something I should tell the first person who asks, even if you do strike me as the most trustworthy human I've met in a long time. It's kind of top-secret pokémon stuff and such."

~It didn't have anything to do with Celebi, did it?~ Tim asked.

Eve's jaw dropped. "Yes, actually, it did. How did you know?"

The abra drummed his fingers on his human's head. ~Lucky guess, you could say. I did a fair bit of teleporting before I met up with Mark, and I eventually wound up in Ilex. Celebi certainly isn't very shy around the pokémon who live there, and it seems like anything important that happens there somehow involves her.~

"Does Tim know what you did, or something?" Mark asked once he sensed that his abra was finished speaking.

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not telling you what happened. At least, not yet." Eve moved herself to lean back against the side of the hill, but winced slightly as she put pressure on her injured right hand. _I probably ought to be more careful with that if I want it to heal properly._

Mark's unseeing eyes flashed down to look at her hand. "That reminds me of my other question… What exactly happened to your hand? You have lacerations on both the palm and the back of your hand, and they look almost like tooth marks."

_Wow… That's so weird that it's somewhere on the line between disturbing and amazing. I can't decide quite which, yet._ "You can really see that much even though it's covered? Even the actual bitemarks?"

"Strangely enough, I can see the bite much more easily than the bandages," Mark said. "Imbalances in the body – even something as minor as a scratch or a bruise – are quite easy to notice. So what bit you?"

"Well…" _I don't really want to tell him… It's sort of personal. Even thinking about it is making me uncomfortable... That whole situation was just so frightening. I can't believe I got out of it alive. And if Hope had used a pokemon other than her houndour, then who knows what might have happened? She might have finished her battle and then left me to those guys. As much as I like Hope and want to help her, she doesn't seem very capable of sympathy or compassion. A different choice of pokémon on Eve's part might have left me raped and beaten, or maybe worse…_

Almost as if he was reading her thoughts, Mark said, "Sorry if I'm bringing up bad memories or something like that. I was just curious, but if it's upsetting you so much just to think about it, then I'll retract the question."

Eve shook her head, awe mixing with her fright as she wondered at how easily he was able to read her emotions. "Let's just say I had a frightening evening last night. I got lost after warning as many pidgey as I could, and then I ran into some trouble."

"A gang?" Mark guessed.

Eve nodded wordlessly as her mind recalled the events and emotions of the previous night.

"I'm sorry to hear that something like that happened to you, especially on your first night here," Mark said, sounding truly genuine. "However, there might be a bright side to it. If you really want to be serious about campaigning for the most basic pokémon welfare, then you can use that experience as a talking point. Too much money is spent in this town fighting the upper class's pidgey problems when it really needs to be going to better protection for all the citizens."

"Lauren told me something like that this morning," Eve said, thought she was still a bit shaken from her memories. "But if I'm talking about only the waste of money on stupid things, then isn't that turning the issue of pokémon welfare into something different?"

"It depends how we present the issue. Sure, you might say that they're wasting money on pests when gangs are the real issue. _Or_, for the stance we're taking, we could say that current policies promote the kind of death and violence that needs to be stopped in both pokémon and human populations. If you're up for it, we could start working on the talking points today, and be ready to fire back at the politicians by tomorrow. By the looks of it, we'll have enough of an audience." He turned his head and looked – or, rather, pretended to look – at the group of people who were standing around, trying and failing to be furtive as they glanced at Mark and Eve.

Hannah rustled her furled leaves irritably. ~That's all well and good, but we still need to train!~ she said. ~I want to beat that gym and at least prove that I'm trying to get stronger! Don't you want to battle the gym as well, Basil?~

~I suppose I could try,~ Basil said listlessly. ~Though I'll probably just fail again, like I did against the poochyena and against the last gym leader.~

Eve hugged the pikachu against her body, trying to comfort him. "I'm sorry, Mark, but Basil and Hannah just reminded me that we've got something else to do first. They're both in desperate need of a confidence boost, and I think that battling the gym here is just the way to do it."

"Sure I can't convince you otherwise? The sooner we start countering the Council Members' accusations against what you did for the pidgey, the better."

"I'm one hundred percent certain," Eve said. "The gym battle takes priority."

Mark sighed. "In that case, let me help you train. A couple hours with me, and I'll know your pokémon's strengths and weaknesses better than you do, and I'll be able to come up with a couple of great strategies. Which number badge will this be for you?"

"It'll be my second. I just beat Faulkner a couple of weeks ago."

"Then a day of training today with the gym battle tomorrow should be all the time we need, especially since you have a strong-looking bayleef and a speedy, evasive pikachu at your disposal."

Basil ears perked up noticeable. ~He thinks I'm speedy and evasive? Really?~

Eve tweaked his ear playfully. "Of course! I'm surprised I didn't think of it before. I already knew you were fast, but I didn't think about how hard of a target you must be to hit due to your size! Add the two together with a bunch of small, fast attacks, and you'll be beating opponents left and right."

"So we've got a deal?" Mark asked. "I help you train, and then we both start campaigning for the sake of pokémon?"

"Even if you weren't helping me train, it would still be a deal," Eve said, happy that her mind was on much more optimistic thoughts than the memories of the gang. "Now that you've got me thinking about it, I bet I'm just as enthusiastic as you about getting something done politically for pokémon."

Mark smiled back at her, his filmy eyes somehow gleaming with energy. "I'm glad to hear it. I think it will be a pleasure working with you, Miss Addamson."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So how are you doing, Growlithe?" Eve asked as she visited one of the recovery rooms of the pokémon center later that evening. Many other pokémon were housed in other nearby pens, but as of now, Eve was the only human in the room. _Most other people are probably asleep… Like I should be. Today was an exhausting day of training. Even so, I feel happy that we were able to make progress. After Mark's help today, I feel like we should easily be able to defeat Whitney, since it's just our second badge._

The growlithe wagged his tail as he put his front paws on the bars of his cage, ignorant of Eve's fatigue. ~I'm feeling much better. Thanks for taking me here, though admittedly I wish I had a little bit more room to stretch.~

Eve looked at the numerous five-by-five foot pens that lined the walls of the room. "I'm sorry if it's not all that comfortable. The pokémon centers have to make do with the space that they have, and since pokémon can't heal while they're in pokéballs, this is the next best thing. Otherwise, there would be no room for surgery rooms and such. And trust me; for a human, the rooms they provide aren't much bigger in comparison."

~Oh, I hope I'm not sounding like I'm complaining,~ the growlithe said. ~I'm getting better, so I'm happy.~

Eve stuck her fingers through the bars of the cage, and the growlithe licked them affectionately. "I've been thinking all day of a name for you, since to humans, it seems weird for me to just call you Growlithe. And I think I finally thought of one. How does Aiden sound?"

~Why Aiden?~ the growlithe asked.

"I'm not sure," Eve said as she shrugged. "It just sounds right to me, somehow."

The growlithe barked softly. ~If you think it sounds right, then I think it sounds great!~

As Eve did her best to pet Aiden through the bars of his cage, she heard a cough behind her. She turned to see that the Head Nurse, Lauren, was standing there.

"Oh, how long have you been there?" Eve asked.

"As longa s you've been here," Lauren said offhandedly. "I followed you in. I was just about to leave for the night, but when I saw you coming in here, I thought I'd let you know how your growlithe is doing."

"And?" Eve asked expectantly.

Lauren smiled. "He's healing at an amazing pace. Two more days and I bet he'll be ready to leave. On another note, did you get to the gym to battle?"

"No, actually," Eve said. "I ran into someone named Mark Abra. He said that you told him where to find me. We started talking and training, so I won't be battling Whitney until tomorrow."

"Oh, that's right," Lauren said. "Mark came in rather soon after you left, asking where you were. I'd forgotten already."

"Would you mind telling me what you think of him? That is, if you're not in a rush to get home. It's pretty late already," Eve said, hoping that Lauren really did have the time to talk.

Lauren smiled. "I can spare a few moments. As for Mark… He's a good kid. Very intelligent, and very aware of other people's feelings. He can get a bit carried away with politics, but he rarely loses his temper in public. In that sense, he's definitely a good politician; if he can't say anything nice about a person, he keeps his cool until he can fume about it in private. And he's an amazing tactician when it comes to both battle and politics. How he won the election for Drakeîn a couple years ago overawed even me, though I dislike battles and elections in general."

"What did he do?" Eve asked.

"What, you mean you didn't hear about it? You must like politics even less than I do," Lauren said, her tone uncritical. "You see, Mark and the other candidate both knew the election was going to be very close. Mark had a more popular personality and was a better campaigner, whereas the other guy – his name was Ken, I think – he had popular policies on his side. Neither wanted to go through the hassle of recounts due to a close vote, so Mark proposed a solution. He challenged Ken to a one-on-one battle, but with a twist: Mark would choose which party pokémon of Ken's would fight, and Ken would do the same for Mark.

Aiden, who was listening intently, whined slightly in confusion. ~But why would he do that? How does a battle affect an election?~ Eve echoed the question for the growlithe, similarly puzzled.

Lauren absently reached through the bars to Aiden, rubbing his fur as best she could. "It affected the election because they were campaigning to see who would represent trainers, and trainers have a tendency to equate proficiency in battle with good qualities for representation. So anyway, the battle happened. Mark picked Ken's strongest pokémon, a rhyperior. It was crazy powerful, to the point that it was Ken's main reason for possessing seven badges. Ken hoped to blind Mark by choosing his seeing-eye pokémon, which he also thought would be the weakest of his pokémon.

"As it turned out, Ken was just about as far wrong as he could be. Mark's abra completely wiped the floor with that rhyperior. That abra is incredibly strong, and knows such a wide variety of moves that it was more like slaughter than a battle. And everyone knew that this was exactly what Mark had planned when he put the special condition on the battle, even though he still hasn't admitted it. People were so impressed both with the abra's strength and Mark's cunning that he won the election by a landslide. Last I heard, Ken was still a bit humiliated about it."

Eve wasn't much of a fan of competitive battling, but she was still impressed by this new information. "I had no idea his abra was so strong, and I usually have an eye for this sort of thing. Are all his pokémon that strong, then? He didn't show me any others that he had."

Lauren shook her head. "No, his other pokémon don't come close to his abra's strength. But Mark makes up for strength with tactics, most of which he comes up with on the spot. Mark could win a hundred battles in a row, and still you'd never see him reach victory the same way twice."

"He was certainly good at helping me train today," Eve admitted. "Now that I hear this, it makes a lot of sense. But more importantly, I still need to know… Should I campaign with him? He wants me to help pass laws for pokémon welfare, and while I want to do everything I can to achieve that, I still barely know the guy."

Lauren met Eve's eyes and smiled. "If you want to help pokémon, then I can think of no better person to work with than Mark. As I already said, he's both nice and smart. _And_ he's always hinting to me that he'd love to meet a girl who respects pokémon in the same way that he does. Maybe you can help pokémon and get a boyfriend all in one package deal. That is, assuming you don't have a boyfriend already."

Eve blushed. "No, I've never had a boyfriend. But I think you're making mountains out of moguryu hills. He seemed much more excited about passing laws than meeting me. It appears more like he wants me around just to get his beliefs turned into law."

Lauren shrugged as she looked up at the time. "Who knows? Whatever the case may be, I wish you both the best of luck, and I pray to Lugia for your success. As for me, I'll keep saving the world one pokémon life at a time. But if you ever need the backing of the Goldenrod Pokémon Center for your career in politics, I'm behind you one hundred percent of the way."

* * *

Sorry, I know it was a long chapter. I stink at cutting down on length... And due to the nature of this chapter, I couldn't really split it up and put part of it in the next chapter; too much of it is one big dialogue for that to work. But Mark is a fun character to write about. ^_^ The next few chapters really introduce you more to the political system and issues of Johto, so I hope you all look forward to that.

So with the addition of this chapter, this fanfic is now over 80,000 words... Not even close to the length of my longest fic, which was over 200,000 words, but it's at least getting there. Anyway, here's to hoping that you're enjoying the fic! :-)


	13. The World of Politics

**Chapter Thirteen: The World of Politics**

Basil dodged nimbly out of the way as over 170 pounds of fat and muscle came rolling towards him. He was tiring from almost five minutes of near constant movement, yet thanks to his speed, he had not once taken a hit from the miltank he was battling.

"Okay, Basil, hit her again!" Eve said in the moment after Whitney's miltank passed him. At this command, Basil repeated the strategy he had been using so far in the battle: dodge, then attack. Not only was this slowly wearing the miltank down, but her current paralysis made her rollout attack much slower, since she continually had to stop when her muscles refused to move. Unfortunately for Whitney, rollout seemed to be the miltank's only worthwhile attack.

Whitney yelled her protest as the weak thundershock hit it's rolling target. "No fair! You're being absolutely no fun! Let me hit you already!" Eve understood the gym leader's frustration, to a degree. Even despite a lucky fire-type metronome attack in the previous part of the battle, Hannah had still managed to defeat Whitney's first pokémon, a clefairy. Now here they were, in a battle that looked to be more focused on endurance and speed than power and attacks.

~Eve, I've got an idea to make the battle go faster!~ Basil said as he waited for his next dodge, not daring to attack when he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get out of the way in time. ~Mind if I try it? I feel like such a coward with how this battle is going!~

"Okay, sure, go ahead!" Eve responded, afraid he would get hurt and yet unwilling to deny his request.

"Go ahead with what? What is going on!" Whitney shouted, more upset than ever. "Millie, be on your guard!"

The miltank in question kept rolling towards Basil regardless of her trainer's commands. Eve watched worriedly as Basil waited until the last moment to dodge yet again, but she quickly realized that Basil's new plan was a bit more risky than a simple dodge. Rather, his dodge this time had positioned him only a foot or two out of Millie's line of momentum, so that his tail was still in the path of the rollout. This wasn't a mistake, though; Eve could see that bright and highly visible sparks were arcing from Basil's tail. _So he's focusing all his electricity in his tail for a better, more direct hit,_ Eve thought.

Wincing sympathetically, Eve watched as Millie hit the broadside of Basil's tail and her entire body glowed in the brief flash of electricity that followed. Yet Eve wasn't wincing for the miltank. Basil was her primary concern. Though he'd jerked his tail away only a fraction of a second after contact, all of Millie's momentum hit his sensitive tail. ~Ouch!~ he said as he moved away, slower than before as he tried not to jostle his tail. ~I'd forgotten how much tail hits hurt.~

"You're okay though, right?" Eve asked.

Basil twitched his ears energetically. ~Of course! Even if it's my tail, it was still only a brief hit. And look – it was obviously worth it.~ Eve turned her head to look at a stunned miltank; she was still recovering from the relatively stronger electric attack. Even so, Eve guessed that it could take at least three more of those hits.

Whitney pouted more at this new attack, but as Eve had predicted, she learned from it. "Millie dear, no more rollout attacks! For now, I want you to use stomp!"

~This'll be even easier to run from!~ Basil said happily as the miltank ran forward. ~But now that she can turn more easily even when I dodge, when will I attack? Just when she's paralyzed?~

"Surprising or not, I've actually got an original idea, Basil," Eve said, her mind still on his comment about tail hits. "Wait for the paralysis to freeze up her muscles again, then run up, bite her tail, and release your electricity!"

Whitney wailed in childish despair. "That's so mean!" she shouted. "Millie, keep on attacking, but if you feel your muscles beginning to freeze, the run away!"

With those commands in mind, both pokémon continued their dangerous dance of attacking and dodging for another thirty seconds or so. Then, the miltank started to try to run back to her trainer in jerky steps.

"Okay, Basil, now!" Eve shouted, though it was unnecessary. Basil was already chasing his target, and within moments he had the slender cord-like part of her tail in his mouth. The bite itself did next to no damage, but the accompanying jolt of electricity did. Millie managed to shake off the pikachu in another few seconds, but by then, she was exhausted. She attempted to face her opponent again, but tripped as she turned. The squat pokémon fell on her stomach, and made no attempt to get up.

The judge called out Eve as the victor, but she hardly paid any attention to him as Basil jumped into her arms. ~I actually did it! And I'm not even that badly hurt!~ he said happily. ~I definitely would have been in trouble if you hadn't found her weak point, though. My electric attacks are still pathetically weak. But even so… At least now I know that I don't necessarily need to let that get in my way.~

Eve shook her head. "Don't say that! You may not be the strongest pikachu in the world, but you're far from pathetically weak."

Basil laid his ears down against his back in disagreement. ~I know you want to be encouraging, but I really don't have any power behind my electric attacks. I know that you know it. And even though Hannah has gotten a lot stronger during our training the past few weeks, I've barely improved at all. It doesn't bother me so much after I was able to win anyway… but it's still the truth.~

Eve was about to protest, but Whitney came stomping up to her with a miserable pouting look on her face. Her eyes were wet with the tears of an unsatisfied spoiled child. "Fine. Take the badge, you big meanie," the gym leader said, thrusting the badge out to Eve and acting way below her age of twenty-four or so. "I wouldn't even come over here and give someone like _you _a badge, but there's something else that I guess I have to ask you, so that's the only reason."

As she returned Basil to his pokéball and took the badge from Whitney's hand, Eve tried to stay friendly. "Thanks, and I'm sorry I had to hurt your pokémon. So what is it that you want to ask me?"

She sniffled, still upset. "Well, I heard from Bugsy that Faulkner asked you to help with some sick pokémon, and since I'm a gym leader too, I thought that you would help me, because I know someone who has a similar problem and so would you help?"

Eve smiled. Despite Whitney's age, she talked and acted like an eight-year-old child. "I'd love to help, but I'm not sure if I can right away, unless it's a real emergency. I have things that I have to do, and I think I'll be especially busy over the next week or so," she said, thinking about Mark's plans for campaigning.

"No, no, don't worry about getting to it soon!" Whitney said, suddenly accommodating now that Eve had agreed. "In fact, it'd probably be best if you waited a few weeks. It only just started happening, and my uncle doesn't even want help, so maybe it'll go away in a few weeks and we won't have to worry about it at all. You see, my uncle runs a miltank farm up west of Ecruteak, and all the miltank have started getting sick recently. So if you're up in that area in the next month or two, maybe you could check in and see if they're okay? Just tell my uncle that I asked you to come."

"I'll make sure that I get up there in the next couple of weeks. If the miltank know what's wrong with themselves, then I might be able to help," Eve replied, glad to see that Whitney no longer appeared to be angry at her loss.

Whitney clapped her hands together once. "That's great! I'm sorry if I called you a meanie before. I take it back, even though I should've won that battle. I've got other battles to prepare for later today, but if you ever want to drop by and say hi, then feel free! We could even do each others' hair and nails and stuff, if I don't have too many battles going on!"

"That sounds nice," Eve said honestly, though she had never been much of a fan of doing anything fancy with hair, makeup, and other such things. As she said this, she caught sight of Mark at the sidelines of the battlefield, gesturing for her to hurry up. "But for now, I have to go as well. Nice meeting you!" she said as she nodded her head courteously.

"Nice meeting you too!" Whitney said enthusiastically as Eve hurried away.

When Eve reached Mark, he gave her a quick congratulations before he started hurrying her out the door and talking about what were in his view more important matters.

"We've got an hour until today's press conference starts. That means you've got an hour to get back to the pokémon center, drop off your pokémon to be healed, get looking nice for the press, and then get to the location of the conference. So we'll need to hurry," Mark said as they walked quickly down the sidewalks of downtown.

Eve frowned. "Tim, why can't you just teleport us to the pokémon center?"

Mark answered before Tim could say anything. "That's because I want to do a quick review of the political system with you. I told you about it yesterday when we were training, but I want to make sure you understand it enough to get through the press conference. And people probably won't interrupt us asking for autographs or pokémon translations if we're on the move. So tell me all that you remember from yesterday's conversation."

_I was bad enough with government when I had full-length classes on it during school. I thought I was done with all this… _Eve sighed. "Okay, let me think… People call it 'the Aves' after the unown-script word for 'bird'. That's because it has two branches of government that use Lugia and Ho-oh as their symbols. The legislative branch is represented by Lugia, who in mythology and religion represents unity. The executive branch has Ho-oh, who symbolizes power."

"Now let's hear more about the legislative branch, since that's what we're going to be dealing with," Mark said. "How does it work?"

"Um…" Eve said. This had always been the most confusing part of government for her. "Well, I guess people elect other people to represent them, and then they are the ones who make laws."

Mark looked at her skeptically. "Is that all you remember?" Eve nodded, and Mark grimaced slightly as he sighed. "I know you're trying hard to memorize this, but you're going to have to try harder if you want people to take you seriously. So listen closely. Voting is mandatory for anyone eighteen and over. Voters are automatically registered as 'residents' of whichever of the ten city-districts they live in. People do have the option of changing their voting status to 'trainer', though you have the choice to do this only if you own a pokémon. Anyone registered as a trainer must stay as such for at least five years, and they must comply if a police department or any higher part of the Executive Branch requests their aid. In return, they are allowed to challenge gyms, medical service for their pokémon is free, and they get to vote for their own representative. At the moment, that's me."

"But why does all that matter? Aren't I dealing mostly with the city government right now?" Eve asked.

"You're right; I'm getting a bit off track," Mark admitted hurriedly. "However, since you're campaigning with me, issues like the automatic enlistment of trainers might come up; it was one of the issues of my campaign that my opponent focused on more than I."

Eve nodded. "Okay, okay. So back to the legislative branch again. How does it work?"

Mark responded quickly, hurrying through the information. "Citizens of each city – even if they live in the surrounding countryside – elect the City Council members. The City Councils pass laws for their respective districts, so long as they don't conflict with national law. As Drakeîn, I have the same power as a whole City Council, yet I can't really use it because, aside from a few special laws that specifically apply to trainers, trainers have to follow the laws of whatever district they're in. Got that much?"

"Yeah," Eve said, though she was sure she would forget it soon. "So what about the National Legislature?"

"Each City Council elects one citizen to be a representative in the National Legislature. The Drakeîn, also known as the Lone Council, takes the eleventh position. New national laws are started and passed in the National Legislature, and then must be passed by seven of the City Councils in order to be made into law. I'm also considered one of the Councils, so that's seven out of eleven votes needed to make it a law outside of the National Legislature. Together, the ten City Council plus myself are called the Legislature of Councils."

Eve let this sink in for a few moments. "But doesn't all of that seem kind of imbalanced? I mean, starting national laws falls solely on the backs of you and ten other people. Why aren't those ten other people elected directly by the people?"

Mark shrugged. "The Johto Government has been rather corrupt from its very beginnings. Out of all the eight major governments of the world, it is considered to be the least representative. And at the same time, it also works rather well. A lot more individual responsibility is place on those who are in power, and because of that, there is a lot of mandatory transparency in the government. And ironically enough, the Executive Branch also helps to keep the standards of the government high."

"Ironically?"

A roguish grin lit up Mark's face. "Yes, the least just part of the government is historically the most just in terms of morals, though legally their techniques can be questioned. The Executive Branch consists primarily of the gym leaders and the Elite Four, with the Champion at its head. And since anyone registered as a trainer can figuratively defeat them and gain a position in the Executive Branch, this branch is based on power alone. No representation whatsoever. In fact, they forced the National Legislature to give them all peacekeeping powers some three hundred years ago. And since they have so much raw force, no one really has the guts to change the system."

Eve's brows furrowed in thought. "So you're saying that there's absolutely no checks on who becomes a gym leader or one of the Elite Four or the Champion?"

"Sort of," Mark said. "Technically speaking, a three-fourths majority in both the National Legislature and the Legislature of Councils is enough to depose any member of the Executive Branch from his or her position. But since all members of the Executive Branch are so powerful, it's a fairly empty action unless they have the backing of the rest of the powerful trainers of the branch. And since the Champion and his branch of government have essentially no checks on their power accept the approval of one another, the pretty much control which laws they deem just enough to be upheld, as well as which crimes should be punished, whether or not they are outlawed in the law. Even though Kanto uses the Elite Four and Champion in their government as well, they've managed to curb the incredible power's influence in their political system."

"But you're saying that they're more morally sound despite all of this?" Eve questioned. "How does that happen? If they're so powerful, I'd expect them all to be power-hungry and manipulative."

Mark's grin grew. "And therein lies the most interesting aspect of the Pokémon League in its role in the government. You see, when the first champion forced his way into Johto politics, it was because the legislature was incredibly ineffective then and strong trainers pretty much had their way with things. By most people's standards, he was a very noble guy, and his good morals transferred to his politics and who he allowed into his branch of government. Even now, though leaders, members of the Executive Branch still technically don't have the power to kick someone out of their branch of government, they do it anyway. And since that first Champion and his group of followers way back when, they've managed to keep the most corrupt trainers from their midst."

"I see… I think," Eve said. "As interesting as all of this is, can we be done with political lessons? My brain is starting to hurt from all this information."

Mark continued to smile. "Yeah, that's about all you need to know. I hope it wasn't too much. Anyway, we've practically made it to the pokémon center already," he said, pointing a couple blocks ahead of them. "You get ready, and then I'll have Tim teleport us to the arena for our first speech."

"Wait… We're speaking at an arena? Just how many people are going to be there?"

"Can't say for sure," Mark said. "I'm guessing somewhere around five hundred or so, and probably not any more than six hundred."

Eve didn't like the sound of that. "I thought you said this was going to be a small rally?"

"It is if you compare it to the crowds I expect we'll draw in the next few days," Mark said mischievously. "Just don't worry about it; though you'll have to give your speech yourself, it's all written out for you already. And the following press conference will be for the both of us together, so I can save you on any questions you're unsure about."

Eve groaned. "That helps, but with several hundred people in mind, it doesn't seem like too much of a benefit. Then again, speaking to large numbers of people has never been too much different for me than speaking to only one person… Maybe it's because I'm around pokémon a lot and their attitudes kind of rub off on me, and they don't really get nervous. But there's something I've been wondering... If I can find my friend at the pokémon center really quickly, do you think she could come with us?"

"Sure. That is, if she's not already coming," Mark said. "I made some flyers and handed them out to quite a few people at the pokémon center this morning before your battle. What does she look like?"

Eve didn't have to think long about her appearance. "She looks really foreign, her black hair is almost purple, and her camo cargo pants are hard to miss. And she looks really solemn all the time."

"Yeah, I definitely met her, then. She was one of the first people up this morning… I barely got up in time to give her a flyer. She didn't seem that interested, but when I asked her if she could come, she acted like she might if her pokémon did well enough in training this morning. I'm sure once she sees that it's your name on the flyer that she'll come, if she's your friend."

"Eh… I wouldn't be quite as sure," Eve said honestly. "In fact, I've barely talked to her at all. But she's really interesting and I really want to help her, because she seems so sad all the time. Plus, she's the one who saved me the other night when, well, you know…" Eve trailed off as she thought of that whole gang incident again. Thanks to that and the sight of the vicious pokémon that Celebi had shown to her, Eve hadn't slept much the previous night. And during the day, her mind was no less troubled by the memories, even if she didn't mention them to either Mark or her pokémon.

Mark seemed to sense where her thoughts were drifting. "Let's just focus on what we're about to do. Remember, we can take care of the gang problem as well as the pokémon issue, if we handle this well. Perhaps with Lugia's blessings of unity, we'll stand a chance at making some real progress."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Many of you know me as a bit of a fanatic for pokémon's rights," Mark began his speech to the packed arena. "Despite this, well over seven hundred of you have come to hear me speak, and to hear the words of someone who holds many of the same opinions as me on such matters. And I can't help but wonder… Why are you guys here? I mean, really, why?" He ended with a smile on his face and a joking tone in his voice, and the audience chuckled at his teasing frankness.

When they were quiet again, Mark continued: "I would like to believe that you're not here to listen to the ramblings of two political fanatics. I also don't want to think that those politicians in the audience aren't hear to find out how Eve and I might hinder or further their careers. Rather, I would very much hope that every single one of you is here because you recognize some validity in our message, even if this sympathy is something you wouldn't admit to your friends and neighbors.

"To put things in a way that even the rational, uncaring human might understand, let me say a couple of things. Firstly, let us take a look at the so-called 'problems' of this city. The City Council here in Goldenrod has spent nearly ten thousand dollars per year over the last ten years to attempt a mass genocide of the pidgey population. In embarking on their latest project to eradicate these harmless birds, they have spent nearly two-hundred thousand dollars of taxpayer money." Though his face showed little emotion as he said this, the seriousness in his voice was enough to show how strongly he felt.

However, as he continued into the next part of his speech, his feelings leaked to his face, which was shiny with sweat from the lights. "But now, let's think about this topic as the thoughtful and caring individuals that I know you all can be. Pokémon feel pain just as much as we do. Pokémon help us much more than we realize; without them, life as we know it wouldn't be the same. And pokémon think and feel and care just as much as you do. From my experiences with Tim, my abra, I can guarantee this. But rather than take my word for it, I suppose you'd all be much more interested to hear from the true expert on this matter. Someone who can talk to all pokémon, not just a single abra. So if you would, I'd like for everyone to give a warm welcome to Eve Addamson." He stepped back from his podium to stand closer to the back of the stage as the crowd applauded loudly.

_Well, that's my cue… Guess I'd better get out on stage. I hope I don't trip or anything. _From her hidden place at the side of the stage, Eve had been listening to Mark's introductory speech. She had no idea how the crowd would want to listen to her after such an amazing introductory speech, but she knew she couldn't back out now. As the crowd clapped, she stepped out into the blinding light of the stage.

Basil was on her shoulder, and he easily sensed her concerns. ~Don't worry about things so much,~ the pikachu said. ~Just say what you want to say, and you'll be fine. As long as you speak from your heart or whatever, Mark said you can't possibly mess up. Even if you say something really stupid, people will just find it endearing.~ Basil was with Eve at Mark's suggestion; much like Tim was always with him, Mark thought that Eve and Basil could be a more memorable and likeable symbol than Eve alone.

Now on stage and at the microphone, Eve didn't dare respond to her pikachu's encouragement. Rather, she looked at the scant notes that sat awaiting her on the podium and started right into her speech.

"I'm not much of a person for public speaking, so you'll have to forgive me for that," Eve started out honestly, and a few chuckles came from the audience. "Mark just thought I should speak from my heart, so that's what I'm going to do. So here goes…"

She cleared her throat and began. "When people ask me what talking to pokémon is like, I often explain by saying how I saw them as a child. You see, when I was young, I didn't even think that humans were any different from pokémon. I called pokémon humans and I called humans pokémon. To me, all of them were people. There was so little variation in speech between the two that I really didn't notice any difference.

"And when I did notice the differences, I only held pokémon in even higher regard. Because while humans can be logical and inventive, pokémon care and love and protect more than any human possibly can. That's why they do whatever a trainer says even though the trainer might keep them cooped up in pokéballs most of the time."

Forgetting what she was supposed to say next, Eve glanced down at her notes and found where she was. She continued, "Yet no one else can see the similarities but me, it seems. Even if you just see them as dumb pokémon, is it right to treat them like slaves? I want to believe that humans can be less barbaric than that… And yet the pidgey thing that happened here in Goldenrod makes me think otherwise.

"I barely know a single thing about politics, but I do know that something needs to change. Mark has told me about all the laws that there are and aren't concerning pokémon, and I agree with him wholeheartedly on all of his views. Flat-out pokémon abuse needs to be outlawed especially, which includes what the government tried to do to the pidgey here. There's so much more that needs to be done, but before we can make any progress on those, the murders like this that go on without consequences need to be stopped." Though she didn't show the anger that Mark had, Eve's voice was brimming with a certain sorrow that all of the crowd couldn't help but notice.

"And with that… I think I'm done. As I said, I know my speech wasn't good, but please believe me. Pokémon need better treatment than they receive now, and I believe that Goldenrod can pave the way. So I guess it's question time then, right?" She looked back to Mark, and he nodded as he stepped forward to join her at the microphone. He already had a list of all the reporters who were sitting in the front row, waiting for questions, and so he chose random names from there.

He scanned the front row. "J. Hunter, you have the first question. Please introduce what organization you're from, and then move on to your question. A staff member should be getting you a microphone." More lights turned on so that the first two rows or so of the crowd were illuminated.

The person in question was a woman with rather short, almost blue-grey hair, though she appeared to be quite young. The staff member had already given her the microphone, so she immediately started to talk when the lights were turned on. "I am Jasmine Hunter, a publicity representative from the well-know Rocket Corporation. We would like to know two things. For Eve, we wonder how can you claim that pokémon are like humans when, if left unchecked, they will kill without hesitation? And to Mark, we ask if you plan on banning the buying and selling of pokémon, which is undoubtedly a major part of both our economy and the economies of other countries?"

Mark gestured for Eve to go first. "Um, well, I disagree with you," Eve said. "They don't kill without hesitation. If they feel threatened – like when a human comes into their territory – then it's more or less the only thing they can do to ensure their safety. If they let their guard down for a few seconds, they feel it can be the end of them. If anything, humans are the ones who kill without hesitation. From what I understand, the biggest issue when the Council voted for the pidgey extermination wasn't the deaths it would cause, but the money they would spend. Doesn't that seem much worse than a pokémon defending itself?"

"And as far as the pokémon trade goes," Mark said, "We have no intention of getting it outlawed. Though we both agree it would be the most moral thing to do, there is a lot of good that comes out of the trade, such as the bonding of humans and pokémon."

More questions followed in the next hour or so. Eve felt like there were a lot of implications in the questions that she just wasn't seeing, but even so, she did her best to answer the queries directed at her. It was exhausting and somewhat stressful, but at the same time, Eve felt good about trying to do something in a big way for pokémon.

Even if it meant gaining the animosity of humans.

* * *

Yay for politics! This is one of the big things I've been looking forward to in this fic... Politics and religion of the pokémon world are the two things that I really wanted to touch upon in this fanfic. Well, I suppose I could add mythology onto both of those, but since that's very well covered in the games, anime, and manga, it just doesn't seem as important. You've already had a taste of Johto religion (with Sprout Tower and the religion based on life), and I'll get into a lot more religion after this Goldenrod arc in the story. But right now, we're focusing on politics, politics, and more politics. My whole thought with the system I present here is this: when there are super-powerful beings that can be controlled by humans, how are they controlled? The answer is, they can't. At least, Johto's government cannot, though other governments around the world have managed well enough. But who exactly is going to go up to Lance, the Elite Four, and the Gym Leaders and say, 'whoops, sorry, you guys can't be a part of our government. Sayonara.'

Let's be honest. Anyone who would go up to Lance and say that is probably going to get hyper beamed by a dragonite or something. You just don't mess with pokémon trainers when they get that strong. And thus the government of Johto (in my fanfic) was born.

On a side note, I forgot to mention something last chapter. The reason behind the name Tim is because the character of that abra (be it due to his seeming harmlessness, his color, or his personality) somehow reminds me of Timcanpy from -Man. Just a random fact. Another side note: there's an anime reference in this chapter. See if you can find it! (It's really pretty obvious if you've watched much of 4th gen anime). Oh, and one last side note: Whitney makes me laugh. I'm just sayin'. :-)

And if you're wondering why I'm publishing this two days early... Well, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get on the internet for a few days after tonight, so I figured that sooner would be better than later. Next chapter still won't come out until the 21st, though.

I hope you all are enjoying the story!


	14. Reunion

**Chapter Fourteen: Reunion**

After two weeks of campaigning, Eve was more than satisfied with the progress she and Mark were making. Due to Eve's popularity among many of the middle and upper class citizens of Goldenrod, several of the City Council members had already reversed their previous positions on the treatment of pokémon. There were still those who fervently opposed the idea, however, and both Mark and Eve were working as hard as ever to convince those few.

This was tough, though, especially for Eve. She still wasn't sleeping well; nightmares of the huge gray flying pokémon and of her first night in Goldenrod still plagued her. She barely managed to suppress a yawn as she and Mark left the stage after their third rally of the week. _If this campaign goes on for much longer, I might be forced to take a break from it… Little sleep at night followed by publicity during the day can't be doing me any good. _

The arena they were in today was so big and fancy that both of them had their own private rooms for before and after the performance. Eve didn't really feel that she needed her room for anything, except as a means for her to separate herself from the near constant attention she was getting from the media. She never really put on makeup she didn't need to check her appearance. She glanced at the mirror nonetheless, wanting to make sure her hair and outfit still looked okay.

~It seems like you've changed since we left home,~ Basil commented from his spot on her shoulder, looking at Eve's reflection as well.

Eve tilted her head, looking at her reflection from a different angle. "I don't think so. I mean, it's true that I've let my hair down, which I didn't do at home much. And my new outfit is different from what I usually wear, too," she said, twirling in the vibrant gingery-orange sundress she had bought at a secondhand store. She had a new, more conveniently-sized bag hanging from her back; it was just the right size for carrying around her pokéballs while in the city, so she kept it with her at all times, even when she had to speak at a rally. Eve continued, "But other than those differences, I'm the same. I mean, I still have Wartortle's fur clipped into my hair, and I haven't changed all that much. But look at you! You've _evolved _since we left home! If anyone has changed, then it's you."

~But you've changed more purposefully. You never let your hair down at home, and I don't think I've ever seen you in a skirt or anything before,~ Basil commented.

Eve smiled. "But I actually really love skirts and stuff! I just could never wear them when playing with you in the forest, or when I'm travelling. They get in the way. Same thing happens with my hair if I don't pull it back."

Basil was about to respond, but the sound of knocking interrupted him. Eve guessed that maybe it was Mark, coming to tell her about whatever other public appearances they had planned for the day. Sure enough, when Eve opened the door, Mark and Tim were there. "May we come in?" Mark asked politely, even though it was almost tradition by now for Eve and Mark to talk whenever they finished a rally.

"Of course," Eve said, closing the door behind him as he walked into the large dressing room. "So what did you think of the rally? It seemed to me like it went well."

Mark scowled and clenched his teeth at the mention of the rally, which surprised Eve; he had almost always been calm and composed in the two weeks that Eve had known him. Even more shocking than the sudden attitude shift were the words that accompanied it. "I can't believe how stupid those people are! So many of the reporters today were so self-centered that I don't see how anyone can even stand them! They're so content with the current state of Goldenrod City that they won't even bother with a new law to stop the gangs, not to mention a law to help pokémon!"

This sudden wave of hatred that came from him actually scared Eve. She highly disliked conflict, and silly as it was, she hated such aggressive emotions. "Please, calm down," Eve said, still stunned by Mark's wrath. "How does getting angry help the situation?"

"But they're just so absurd! I can't even begin to comprehend how heartless people can be!"

Telepathically, the abra on Mark's shoulders said to Basil and Eve, _He does this after pretty much every rally, though in the time you've known him, he's been trying to restrain himself whenever you're around_. _Since I'm asleep most of the time, I don't really share his intensity. _Eve winced at the touch of Tim's thoughts, but the headache that immediately resulted from the psychic communication didn't seem nearly as bad as it usually did.

Before Eve could reply or Mark could continue his ranting, someone knocked on the door. Mark composed himself almost immediately, but Eve was the one to open the door and answer it.

A security guard was the source of the interruption. "Miss Addamson, I'm sorry to bother you and Mr. Abra, but there are two people here who would like to see you. One insists that he knows you and needs to talk to you, and the girl… Well, she didn't really insist. But she had one of her pokémon out, and it looked tough enough that none of the security staff really wanted to refuse her request to her face. They said their names are Katsu and Hope. Shall I bring them back here for you to talk to them, or send them away?"

"Oh, don't send them away," Eve said after only a second of thought. "I definitely want to see Hope. But Katsu…" _To be honest, he's getting to be a bit of a stalker at this point, even though I know he's not like that. But he followed me from Violet to Azalea, and now he's trying to talk to me again here. _"Well, I'm not mean enough to tell him he can't come talk to me. Go ahead and let them both back here."

In the minute or so that they had to themselves before Katsu and Hope arrived, Mark looked at Eve curiously, his anger from earlier dissipated. "You've talked about Hope before, but who's Katsu?"

Eve sighed. "He's this guy I met in Violet City. He was actually the one to show me the Ruins of Alph. We traveled to Azalea together, but then I left without him because he was being really stupid."

Mark raised an eyebrow. "You traveled together, and now he's followed you here? What's the relationship between you two?"

Even as dense as she could sometimes be, Eve caught the meaning of the question. "Really, it's nothing. He's a nice guy, and I liked talking to him. But then I realized how thoughtless he is towards pokémon, and I knew I wouldn't be able to endure that for long. So I came here while he stayed in Azalea to battle Bugsy."

Another knock on the door stopped any further explanation. Eve opened it again, and there were Katsu, Hope, and Hope's marowak. Eve wasn't sure what exactly to say to them. She was happy to see Hope again; even though both girls were staying at the pokémon center, Eve had barely glimpsed the younger teen since the incident of the first night. Katsu, on the other hand, was far from the first person she wanted to talk to.

When Eve didn't greet them immediately, Katsu went ahead and broke the silence. "Hello, Eve. It's been a while. And you're Mark Abra, right? I must admit, it's an honor to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, as well," Mark said, though he kept his distance from the trio as Eve let Mark and Hope into the room, shutting the door behind them. "And you're Hope, I'm guessing?" he continued, looking sightlessly to the girl in question.

"Yes," she answered flatly.

As much as Eve wanted to talk to Hope to thank her again for her help with the gang, Eve thought it would be best to figure out Katsu's purpose first. Because their last meeting hadn't been all that pleasant, Eve decided not to bring that topic up just yet. "So how did your gym battle in Azalea go?"

"I underestimated Bugsy, so I had to battle him several times," Katsu admitted. "I didn't manage to beat him until a couple of days ago, which is why I didn't come here right after hearing about everything you're doing here in Goldenrod. But in truth, even seeing your campaign isn't really why I came." Eve angled her head questioningly, but didn't respond. So Katsu continued, "The thing is… I'm not exactly sure how to put this, but… I really am sorry about how I acted at the Slowpoke Well. I was being stupid. I was hoping that maybe we could be friends again, and maybe even travel together sometime. What do you say?"

Eve frowned slightly. "Katsu… I don't think so. Definitely not the travel part, and probably not the friend part, either. If you can't care about pokémon, then I really don't think I can endure being around you for long, even if you are a nice person."

"But really, I understand more what you were saying about how we have to treat pokémon well!" Katsu said, defending himself. "I thought more and more about the Creed of Life – you know, since I was raised to that religion to the point that even my choice of pokémon reflects it – and I was thinking that my religion isn't too far off from what you were saying. In that case, it means that I really do need to respect pokémon more, since they're living beings just as much as humans are."

Basil's nose twitched in doubt. ~Eve, his argument feels empty. Like it's something he came up with just so you would believe him again.~

_I sense no commitment in his words,_ Tim commented. _As Basil said, his remarks feel empty._

Eve trusted the two of them at their word. "Katsu, we've been through this before. I believed you the first time you said this sort of thing, but I don't think I can believe you now."

Katsu became visibly angered at this point. "So are you still friends with Hope?" Eve nodded. "Then how can you not be friends with me? Hope treats her pokémon much more cruelly than I do."

"It's different with her," Eve said honestly. "She sees humans and pokémon as equal. She just sees them all as dirt, because she can't even care what happens to herself. Is that right, Hope?" Eve asked, not sure if her guess was completely correct or not.

Hope shrugged. "I suppose that's an accurate statement."

"You see?" Eve said. "That's why I want to be friends with her, because I don't think anyone should have to live with that sort of view of the world. I'm not sure why, but I think I can convince her otherwise. I'm also not even sure why I want to convince her so much… As I said, it's probably imprinting. I don't know. But she literally saved my life the other night, so no matter what, I definitely can't abandon her now."

Katsu's anger faded somewhat and was replaced by resignation. "Fine. If that's how you feel, then I'll leave. But if you'd listen, I have just one question that's been bugging me for a while, and I have to know your answer before I go."

"Um, okay," Eve said, looking at him curiously. "What did you want to ask?"

"Do you think that pokémon are better than humans?"

Eve thought about the question for a moment, not so much because she didn't know the answer but because it intrigued her that Katsu had asked it in the first place. "No, not at all," she responded. "I mean, in some ways, maybe, but… I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain. I have yet to meet a truly evil pokémon, or a pokémon that hurts others just because it can, so in that sense, pokémon are much better than humans. At the same time, pokémon act almost solely on emotions, and their emotions are usually much more vivid than our own. Pokémon murdering other pokémon in battle is really common in the wild, even if its just because one of them took a step too close to the other's territory. It's actually really scary, even now that I've seen it happen plenty of times…"

~Scary enough that you _still_ aren't the same person you once were. I can tell that, even though I didn't know you before how you are now,~ Basil commented. ~I do wish you didn't have to be so frightened by it. We pokémon don't worry about death, so it's never been a big deal. You really don't have to be scared on our account.~

Perhaps sensing what Basil was touching on something that Eve hadn't mentioned, Mark spoke up. "You say you've seen it many times… But how old were you when you first saw something like that happen?"

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe six or seven. The one who was killed was one of my best friends, too. A spearow," Eve said solemnly, obviously very upset by the topic. "He didn't even mean to do it. He just landed on that meowth's tail, and the meowth got furious. In a couple of seconds, Spearow was pinned to the ground. And in another couple of seconds, the meowth dug her claws into Spearow's stomach. It was horrible… and in truth, it frightened me so much that I've never gotten angry since. Even when I still had the beginnings of anger in the months following that day, my mind immediately went to the image of Spearow dying, except it was me who did it, because it was me getting angry. Eventually, I just stopped getting angry at all. I literally can't now."

Both Mark and Katsu were shocked into silence for a couple of seconds. Mark was the first to recover. "I'd noticed that you didn't get angry at all in the past weeks. I'm sorry to hear that this is the reason why. That's some severe mental trauma; I'm sorry I asked."

"No, it's my fault for bringing up the topic to begin with," Katsu said. "But I thank you for telling me about it. I needed to know whether you were blindly biased towards pokémon or not. Since you aren't… I'd still like to get to know you, someday. For now, though, I'll leave. Best of luck to you with your political campaign and your training. Anyway, I guess I'll be off now. Sorry for bothering you."

Eve felt absolutely horrible as he walked out of the room, both because she was kicking him out and because of the earlier topic of discussion. Even though she felt bad about forcing him away, she didn't so much as say bye. She had spoken the truth earlier about the impossibility of being friends, and she knew that she would have regretted it if she had let herself trust Katsu's word.

"He seems to have a bit of a crush on you, if I'm not mistaken," Mark suddenly said, moving closer to Hope and Eve now that Katsu was gone.

"Are you sure?" Eve asked. "I mean, he said as much when we were still in Violet City, but he also said that he'd dropped the idea rather quickly."

Mark smirked. "If he's admitted it in the past, then he definitely still likes you, no matter what he really says. Guys like him don't give up all that easily when they set they're sights on something. Alternately, I suppose he might just want to be friends with you so that he could have a chance at some time in the limelight. Either way, I'm certain he wouldn't have insisted on talking with you here just to be 'friends' again."

Eve frowned, not sure whether to be saddened or flattered by the possibilities. "You think so?"

"Yeah," Mark said. "But anyway, I'm feeling kind of rude for ignoring Hope." Turning to the person in question, he said, "Do all your friends talk about your pessimism as if you're not even in the room?"

Hope shrugged.

Katsu scowled. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you come to see Eve?"

Hope stared at him, her eyes nearly level with his. "I came to Eve because I wanted to meet you. I'd like to battle."

Mark was surprised for a moment, and then interested in the sudden challenge. "And who are you to think that you could battle me? Your marowak is strong, I can tell that much. But that doesn't mean that you're the one who trained it, or that you have anything else equivalent in power. How long have you been training, and how many badges do you have?"

"I've trained the marowak for twelve years. Two others I've trained for seven. My last I've trained for two or three weeks."

"Twelve years?" Mark repeated, skeptical. "I don't think the training you do as a toddler quite qualifies. You can't be older than sixteen, I should think. And you didn't answer my other question. How many badges do you have?"

"Five," Hope said. "I've been trying to defeat Whitney for my sixth."

Obvious surprise showed on Mark's face. "That means you have as many badges as I have. Excuse my rudeness, then; it appears it was unjustified. You look so young that I didn't suspect much. Up until now, I thought I was one of the youngest people to get anywhere even close to five badges. If you really have five badges, then I would love to battle you. There aren't many trainers who I can battle at an equal level."

"But what about campaigning?" Eve asked, not wanting to see her two friends fight, even if it was just in an informal battle.

"We actually don't have anything more to do today, even though it's only mid-afternoon," Mark said. "Since the campaign is going well, I thought I'd schedule a night off from the rallies that we've been doing. You've been looking kind of tired. If you want, you can take a rest back at the pokémon center while Hope and I head to the public battlefields in the park."

Shaking her head, Eve said, "No, I'm really not that tired. I-"

"Lie," Mark said. "I told you, I can tell when people lie if they aren't comfortable with it. You definitely aren't good at lying. You are dead tired, and you really should get some sleep."

~I think Mark is right,~ Basil said. ~On the nights when I've chosen to sleep rather than go inside my pokéball, I see you tossing and turning. You definitely need whatever extra rest you can get.~

But Eve insisted, "If you and Hope are going to battle, then I want to be there to watch. I've only seen your pokémon at mealtimes, Mark, and I really would love to see them in action. And I feel like I should be there to cheer on the both of you, even if you're going against each other. There's nothing you can say to stop me; I'm definitely going."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Tim teleported the group straight from the arena to the park, but they soon found out that a battle would be far less instantaneous. Mark had completely forgotten that they had to sign up to use one of the battlefields, and despite the fact that it was a weekday, they would have to wait until evening for a thirty-minute session on one of the fields.

So until then, the trio decided to go their separate ways. Hope went to train, as she did every day. Mark had some old friends whom he hadn't talked to yet during his temporary stay in Goldenrod, so he went to see them.

Eve, for her part, did end up going back to the pokémon center for some much needed rest. She actually slept well for the first time in a long while. Maybe the warm sun brightening the room even through the thin plastic blinds helped. Or maybe it was because all three of her pokémon had wanted to stay out of their pokéballs after eating lunch, making the room crowded in a cozy sort of way.

Whatever the case, the result was the same. She got the best sleep she'd had in nearly three weeks, but at a cost. Almost as soon as she fully awoke, she realized what that cost was.

"Oh, darn! I overslept! I didn't think I was going to sleep nearly that long!" she said to herself as she jumped out of bed, waking up her three dozing pokémon. She quickly gathered together her bag and pokéballs. "Basil and Hannah, I hope you don't mind terribly, but I think I'm going to have Aiden be the one out of his pokéball on the way there. He hasn't had a ton of exercise since he was released from the pokémon center's care. Plus, once we're at the park, I can let you two out again. Is everyone okay with that?"

Hannah waved her leaf unconcernedly. ~I hate walking on the streets anyway.~

~It's fine with me as well,~ Basil said.

Aiden yipped excitedly. ~Yay! It'll be nice to be out of my pokéball for a while!~

"Don't think you're getting off easily," Eve joked as she put the other two away in their pokéballs. "I'm already five minutes late, so we're running as fast as we can! But don't run into anyone, okay?"

~Of course!~ Aiden barked, his wagging tail almost a blur.

Though still in a rush, Eve smiled at her growlithe's enthusiasm as she led the way out of her room. They kept their pace down to a rushed walk while in the pokémon center, but as soon as they exited the front doors, they were off. Eve ran as fast as she could, weaving her way through the groups of people ambling along the sidewalks. Aiden easily kept pace; his now clean fur rippled as he cut through the warm evening air.

Though the sun was beginning to set, Eve guessed that it was still well over seventy degrees. _Great… I'll be all sweaty when I get there,_ she thought to herself as she dashed out across a street, barely getting across before a couple of taxis zoomed by.

Aside from this relatively close call, though, Eve really didn't have much trouble with the traffic; even when the walk indicator wasn't on, she could usually still get across the major streets as long as she timed her dash well. Even in a big city like Goldenrod, public transportation and bikes were more common than cars. If Eve remembered her history correctly, this was because humans of long ago had never really felt the need for such things as cars when riding a ponyta and then putting it in its pokéball was much faster and more convenient. When technology had finally improved and riding pokémon became the more bothersome option, most people had agreed that public transportation was the cheapest way to get by. Only a couple of regions – Isshu most notably – had truly developed their technology and interstate systems enough for cars to be a useful investment for the average person.

Shaking her head in mock frustration, she thought, _Of course, I can remember my history now that I'm not taking an essay test in school… But now's not the time to think about that! We're almost to the battlefield!_

Eve was gasping for breath when she finally made it to the field where Mark and Eve had started their battle. As she slowly caught her breath, Eve observed her two friends and their pokémon as the battle progressed. Mark had a rather intense look on his face not dissimilar to the expressions he would make when he was particularly passionate about a political issue. He was currently using his smeargle, Ruby, so named for the bright red paint that dripped from her tail.

Hope, on the other hand, looked indifferent to the situation. Though she yelled her commands, she did so without enthusiasm. She was still dressed in her camo pants and rather drab shirt, which added to her almost dull appearance. It was obvious that appearances weren't everything, though. Her sneasel was currently doing battle, and the sheer speed and force behind his claw attacks was incredible. His power wasn't the only impressive part of Hope's battling, though; despite Mark's tricky strategy, Hope continually managed to get her pokémon out of any bind.

A good fifteen or twenty people had gathered to watch this battle; whether this was because they had recognized Mark's face or because they saw the high-level attacks, Eve didn't know. She did, however, know that this was probably the best battle that many of them had seen in real life, and they seemed to be enthralled by each technique and strategy that was used.

Eve knew that since a good ten minutes of battling was already finished, she'd probably missed at least one knockout. So as she moved to one side of the small crowd, she asked one of the spectators, "Would you mind telling me what's happened in the battle so far? I meant to be here from the beginning of the battle, but as you can see, I got here late."

The man – who seemed to be in his mid-thirties – looked briefly away from the battle and quickly realized who was asking him the question. "Aren't you Eve? That girl who's been campaigning with him?" He gestured to Mark. Eve nodded, so the man continued, "This is awesome! I didn't think I'd get to meet you in person… But you probably get enough of that sort of reaction whenever you meet people, so I'll just say that I love the message you're trying to get across."

"Thanks," Eve said. Admittedly, a lot of people did indeed respond to her presence with that sort of statement, but every time it was still nice to hear.

"Anyway, the battle," the man continued as he faced the battlefield once again. "They're going four-on-four. No switching during a fight, but each pokémon can only be used for one fight. In the first battle, the girl used a houndoom. Mark used a ditto, who transformed into the houndoom. That was scary, even for a guy like me. Two houndoom fighting each other sent shivers up my spine, especially when they howled. Mark eventually won by having his ditto revert to its original form, wrap itself around the houndoom's horns, and then transform again so that its mouth was latched solidly around the real houndoom's throat."

"So is this only the second fight?" Eve asked as Mark's smeargle collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Apparently, it simply didn't have the stamina to continue its sketched attacks.

The man shook his head. "It's all gone surprisingly quickly, despite the endurance that pokémon of this strength have. This is actually the third battle. The second one was the girl's spinarak versus Mark's kecleon. The spinarak was amazingly skilled with its spider-web technique. You can still see all the fibers littering the field if you look closely. The webs practically immobilized the invisible kecleon, but Mark turned the battle around. He used kecleon's long tongue to collect some of the loose webs and used the sticky strands against the spinarak. After that, a couple of lashings from kecleon's tongue were enough to knock out the poor little bug. Apparently, it wasn't as strong as its skills with webs suggested."

Eve nodded, feeling sorry for the spinarak. Just three weeks ago the spinarak had been close to death, yet Hope was already pitting her against strong pokémon. While Eve felt certain this bug-type was better off than she had been in the wild, she did wish Hope wouldn't push her so far.

Now down to one pokémon, Hope sent out her marowak, whom Eve guessed was the strongest of all her pokémon. Mark sent out a castform, which surprised Eve; she thought for certain that he would send out Tim, who was definitely his most powerful option.

Hope noticed the odd choice as well, so before they could start the battle, she shouted out, "Why don't you use your abra? I don't want to face anything but your best."

"I don't use Tim because the advantage for me would be unfair," Mark said. "Even as strong as your pokémon are, Tim could have easily wiped out the previous three. I'd like this battle to be a little bit more challenging than that, especially since this seems to be your best pokémon. For this reason, I normally only battle with Tim when there's something of significance on the line."

The crowd around Eve began to murmur at Mark's claims. Some insisted that Mark's abra was really as strong as he claimed; others thought it was a bluff made out of pride and arrogance.

Hope stared at Mark for a few moments. "Even if your abra wins the battle without competition, then at least I know how much stronger my pokémon and I need to be. So send out your abra."

Mark looked like he would protest, but he bit his tongue and returned his castform, Crystal, to her pokéball. Without Mark needing to say anything, Tim teleported onto the battlefield in a standing position, eyes closed but fully awake in mind and body.

"All right, then," Mark said. "You asked for it. You may take the first move."

Expressionless as ever, Hope gave her command. "Bonemerang."

"Either catch the bone or stop it with psychic!" Mark shouted as the bone flew towards Tim. Tim first teleported out of the way to avoid the bonemerang at its highest speed, and then teleported back into its way as it began its return to its master. He caught the bone masterfully, as if it was something he'd been doing his whole life.

Before Mark could make his next command, the marowak ran forward quickly, head lowered. Tim automatically teleported out of the way.

"Aren't you going to control your pokémon?" Mark asked. "As far as I can tell, you didn't issue any command."

"Nor did you tell your abra to dodge just now," Hope countered.

Mark smiled. "Touché. In that case… Tim, you may choose what moves you use. The battle is entirely in your hands."

In the time that Eve had known Hope, not once had she seen the younger girl show any true emotion. But now, to Eve's surprise, the slightest of true smiles appeared on Hope's face. "Very well then," she said, looking at her marowak. "Marowak, you may attack as you please, as well."

The battle went more quickly than Eve could follow after that. Since the pokémon had no need to wait for their orders to be called out, they soon started into a dangerous dance of attacking and dodging. Despite Tim's huge teleporting advantage, the marowak seemed to know exactly where he was just as soon as he got there, ruining any hope of catching the ground-type off guard. Eventually, Tim managed to sneak in a succession of high-powered energy balls, which was enough to knock the marowak out cold.

What happened directly after the knockout seemed to occur even more quickly than the battle, so much so that Eve didn't quite comprehend what had happened until it was over. Despite the fact that the battle had just ended, both Tim and Mark became suddenly tense. Tim teleported somewhere just as Mark jerked his head towards the crowd to look directly at Eve. He started to say something, but was interrupted as Eve heard a crash and a yell from some fifteen yards behind her.

She turned around and looked to see what had happened. It appeared as if a fearow had just nosedived into a person; both were lying in a heap on the ground as Eve and the rest of the crowd approached. Tim was standing on top of the pile, appearing rather pleased with himself.

Aiden, still the only pokémon of Eve's out of his pokéball, spoke up. ~The fearow was attacking you,~ the growlithe said, his fur ruffled and a deep growl rising in his chest. ~I sensed it just when they did. I think Tim teleported onto the fearow, then teleported the fearow into its trainer.~

Mark strode past Eve and the rest of the crowd before stopping before the trainer, who was hurriedly trying to untangle himself from the large bird's wings. "You know, you should really be careful who you pick a fight with," Mark said, menace lurking just beneath the gentle cadence of his voice. "Tim can do more than simply teleport, as you would have noticed if you'd been paying attention to who was battling rather than plotting to attack a young girl from behind with an evolved pokémon. You're just lucky that I have better things to do than beat up on a weakling like you. Hope? Eve? Shall we leave?"

Eve looked to see that Hope had joined to crowd and was, in fact, standing right next to her. "I've had my battle," Hope said. "I don't care where I go next."

"Y-yeah, let's go," Eve said, rather unnerved as what had almost happened began to sink into her mind.

So Mark and Eve walked away, and Hope apparently decided to trail behind. All three remained silent as they walked. However, when they were finally away from the crowd, Mark found his voice. Even in the darkness, Eve could tell that he was shaking with suppressed rage. "That's Goldenrod politics for you," he said, his voice calm despite his mood. "He wouldn't have killed you or anything, I don't think. But people here aren't beyond roughing up anyone they don't agree with or, in extreme circumstances, mauling whoever they dislike. I think the latter is what was just attempted."

Eve shuddered. She could tell that Mark was more talking to himself than to her; otherwise, she doubted he would be frightening her with the possibility of what could have happened. "Maybe I shouldn't have come to Goldenrod… If not for you, Mark, and you, Hope, I… Well, you know. I'm apparently not the best at keeping myself safe."

~But if you hadn't come to Goldenrod, then I would be dead,~ Aiden whimpered. Then, perking up, he continued, ~So don't regret it! I'll be more alert next time so that this doesn't happen again!~

Ignorant to Aiden's words, Mark reacted in his own way to what Eve had just said. He seemed to snap out of the thoughtless anger that had been blanketing him. His fury was still apparent, but not as blinding as it had been before. "I'm sorry. My comments were uncalled for. I just don't want you to get hurt." His face reddened as he realized what he had just said, though Eve couldn't see this in the darkness. Mark quickly added, "It just seems like you've been through a lot already, is all, so it doesn't seem fair for you to get hurt. You already had that gang attack when you first came, and that seems like enough of a bad experience for one city. But don't pay any attention to that guy and his fearow. This is how stupid people react when they don't get their way. We just need to continue our campaign as best we can."

Eve agreed halfheartedly, though her mind was still thinking about the fearow's trainer. _Can I really finish the campaign, knowing this stuff might happen? Knowing that there are people out there who hate me this much makes me want to stop the whole campaign. But… But… I still have to do it. I can't in good conscience back out now, especially when I have the chance to help so many pokémon. I'll just have to hope that I can avoid anything else like this. _

_That is, if that's even possible.

* * *

_

I must admit, I'm not much a fan of this chapter. It's sort of just a compilation of stuff that I needed to happen... Re-emphasis on Eve's appearance, which is something I feel I need to do every now and again; Mark meeting Katsu and Hope; Katsu showing up again, though temporarily; Eve revealing why she doesn't ever get angry; characterization of Aiden some; explanation of transportation (and thus why it makes sense for trainers to travel on foot from place to place, in a sense); showing off Mark's power; and showing how irrational people get about Eve's role in politics. On that note of transportation, I want to make a brief mention of why there are no guns in this fanfic. In short, it's the same basic story of transportation. Pokéballs are less complex than guns, and pokémon were much more deadly than the earliest of guns. Gun technology never really progressed far at all because of this, and so the gun as we know it really doesn't exist.

Anyway... yeah. This chapter was just a bunch of stuff thrown together, which I didn't like much. It's just not very fun to write. Next chapter, on the other hand... is interesting on multiple levels. Look forward to it!

And please wish me the best with finding time to write! After this chapter is up, I only have two more that are completed! I am quickly falling behind! Thanks for reading, everyone!


	15. Of Picnics and Pidgeotto

WARNING: If you don't want the main plot twist of the Yellow arc of the Pokémon Special Manga to be ruined for you, then you're going to have some issues with this chapter. However, if you've ever read even a sentence about the main character (Yellow) of that arc, then you probably already know what I'm talking about. Most of you have probably either read the manga or are never going to, so I'm not worrying too much about it. I'm just giving you fair warning.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Of Picnics and Pidgeotto**

"I'm so glad we can finally relax!" Eve said as she collapsed on the picnic blanket. Both Mark's pokémon and her own were off playing together, leaving Mark and Eve alone to talk for once. "I just can't believe we really did it. It's taken nearly a month, but we _finally_ got the Council to pass the law. Something can be done about the gangs _and _the treatment of pokémon now!"

Mark nibbled absently on a sandwich, though he was already full from the picnic lunch that he, Eve, and their pokémon had shared. "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but it probably won't have any effect for some time. It'll take a while for the diverted funds to work in the police force, and then it'll be even longer before the gangs are reduced significantly. The new pokémon law will be last on the police's enforcement list."

Eve smiled. "I know, but it's enough that we managed to start the process. Plus, I'm in too good of a mood to let the delay bother me! It's a beautiful day, Hope won her gym battle yesterday, and I finally got to really talk to all your pokémon." That last point was the whole reason that Eve had proposed having a picnic to celebrate their political victory; Tim was the only one whom she'd really gotten to know until today, and she'd been curious to talk with the rest of Mark's team.

"Speaking of Hope, why isn't she here?" Mark asked. "I thought you were going to invite her to the picnic, since you two are good friends and all."

Eve let out a slightly frustrated sigh. "We're not really good friends. You've met her… She's more of a loner type. I'm just doing my best to cheer her up. Anyway, she didn't come because she left for Ecruteak early this morning. I think she's going to battle the gym leader there."

Mark smiled. "You mean Morty? I bet he'll be interested to meet her. He sometimes gets impressions of people who are peculiar in some way or another. Every now and then, he can even see their future."

"Really?"

Mark laughed. "No, not really. It's just a rumor that people spread. I've asked him about it, and he assures me that it isn't true. On another note, I've been meaning to ask you for some time now… What are you going to do next? Do you want to continue campaigning in other cities?"

Eve toyed with the frayed edge of the picnic blanket. "If you're up for it, then yes, I would. But only if we can take a little more time off for training. I know that Hannah wants to keep getting stronger, yet I haven't had any time to really help her with it. And I just haven't spent enough time with Basil and Aiden, too."

"That's fine," Mark said. "Seeing how worn out you get from campaigning, that's probably the best course of action. Ecruteak will be our next destination; it's the capital of Johto, so it's certainly a strategic city to win for our cause. Plus, I have some other things I need to look into there. I need to catch up on some of my legislative duties, and I've heard tell that certain factions of Rocket Corporation are up to their old tricks of poaching and smuggling pokémon in that area. You know, we could leave for Ecruteak as soon as we get this picnic picked up; Tim can easily teleport us straight there."

"I think I'll pass on that, though you're more than welcome to go on ahead if you have stuff to do," Eve said. "The campaigning really hasn't hit me the hardest… Being in the city for so long just isn't for me. I need at least a couple days outside of the city to recuperate."

"Are you still having those nightmares, then?"

Eve nodded. "But that's not the only reason I don't want to go straight there, though. I also need to go to Whitney's uncle's ranch. I just talked to her the other day, and the miltank there have all been sick for nearly a month now. I promised her I'd check in on it. I guess I'll cut through the forest, then head to Ecruteak after I finish helping there."

"I wouldn't suggest that," Mark said, his brows knitted together. "The beedrill around here are really active mid-summer. And that forestland is full of them. If you insist on walking, at least go to Ecruteak first, and then go west from there."

"If you say so," Eve relented, not too terribly disappointed that her shortcut wouldn't work. "Admittedly, I try to avoid beedrill when possible… It seems like they have some personal vendetta against me. At least, the ones around where I grew up did."

Before their conversation could continue, all nine of their pokémon came charging up. It was an almost comical sight, seeing all those different pokémon running around together. There were, of course, Eve's three pokémon, who varied greatly in size and color; they led the playful charge. Following them were four more pokémon that Eve recognized, plus two more that weren't quite as distinguishable.

The former group consisted of a Tim, Crystal the castform, Ruby the smeargle, and Martin the Kecleon, though Eve was still having trouble remembering all their names. The latter group of two was so unrecognizable that, oddly enough, Eve knew just who they were. One of them was a pidgey, but judging by how well she fitted into the group, Eve knew that this had to be Kiki, Mark's ditto. The other appeared to be, of all things, a little girl of about five years old. Eve reasoned that this had to be Cassidy, Mark's zorua; Mark had warned her that Cassidy could cast convincing illusions, and that the form of a little girl was her favorite deception.

"So what's going on, everyone?" Eve asked as her three pokémon skidded to a stop just in front of her and all the others crowded in behind them.

Basil, from his perch on Hannah's head, seemed to be the spokespokémon for the group. ~I told everyone about how pretty your pokéflute playing is, and they all want to hear it now. Especially Aiden, since he hasn't heard you play it yet.~

Eve smiled at the group, then crouched down in front of Aiden. "Have I really not played the pokéflute for you at all yet?"

~No, you haven't!~ Aiden barked. ~I really want to hear it!~

"Well, let me see if I even have it with me…" she said as she took off her small day pack. She dug around among her pokéballs and other miscellaneous items for a few moments before she triumphantly pulled out the rather small, slender box that protected the instrument. "Ah-hah! Here it is! Mark, I hope you don't mind if I take some time to play them something. They all want to hear my play the pokeflute, apparently."

"I had no idea you could play the pokéflute," Mark said. Then, inclining his head graciously, he added, "Go right ahead and play. Personally, I'd love to hear it. The pokéflute is one of my favorite instruments, though I must admit that my first love is the trumpet."

Eve made a face at that comment. "Trumpets are overrated. How is it that the pokéflute can do so much, and yet so few people like it?"

"I guess it's because you have to be really good in order to actually have any effect on pokémon," Mark said. "Anyway, go ahead and start. We're all ears," he said, gesturing to himself and all the pokémon.

Eve began without any further prompting, starting in on a bright, cheerful tune that she rather enjoyed. According to her pokéflute teacher, it was a rather ancient song meant to rouse pokémon from their slumber. When played with Eve's masterful technique, it certainly seemed to have that effect. None of the listening pokémon were able to sit still from the moment the first notes skipped out from the recorder-like instrument. Kiki and Cassidy went rapidly through a repertoire of forms and illusions respectively; Ruby used her tail to paint the ground in front of her; and Tim, as if to prove the purpose of the song, woke up as the springy melody entered his ears.

Not wanting to waste too much time playing her flute, Eve refrained from any more songs once this first short one was finished. All the pokémon expressed their delight in their own unique ways; not one of them had been able to resist the odd power of the pokéflute.

Mark applauded. "I've never heard a pokéflute played so well, even by professionals. How did you learn to play like that?"

"I practiced a lot, I guess," Eve said, happy for the compliment. "I started private lessons in the fifth grade – my mom thought I'd enjoy learning it, you see – and I've kept it up since then. And since all of my pokémon friends seemed to like it a lot, I really enjoyed practicing."

"Well, I suppose you can accomplish anything with the right motivation. Even mastery of the pokéflute," Mark said. "Anyway, now that Tim is back, I have something that I wanted to give to you, Eve. A couple of somethings, actually. Tim, would you mind getting those items I left back at home?"

Tim twitched his tail in amusement. ~Now that I'm awake, I guess I've got nothing better to do than be an errand-abra.~ He disappeared for a few moments and reappeared before Eve had the chance to ask Mark why in the world he would get her anything.

"Thanks," Mark said to Tim as he took the two small packages from his abra, both of which were wrapped in plain brown paper. The one Mark handed to Eve first was rather oblong. She looked at it curiously, but when she made no attempt to open it, Mark prompted her, "Go on. You don't have to wait for your birthday or anything. It's just something I thought you might find useful."

Eve pouted slightly. "But I really don't need anything. I don't want you wasting money on me…"

"You can determine whether you need it or not once you open it," Mark said. "Trust me; I think you'll be glad to have it. Just consider it thanks from me for a great campaign."

Seeing that there was little else she could say, Eve tore away the brown wrapping to reveal a small, light brown pouch with a strap and buckle to attach it around the waist. As she tried the item on and adjusted the strap, she wondered at the material; it was a far cry from the cloth she would have expected for this sort of accessory.

"It's made out of spinarak silk, but dyed brown to make it a more neutral color," Mark said, as if reading her mind. "It's a holder for your pokéballs. If you open the pouch, you'll see that there are six separate padded compartments to keep your pokéballs safe. It's a good thing to have your pokémon within reach at all times, not tucked away in your bag."

Without saying anything, Eve pulled her three pokéballs out of her bag and placed them into the compartments. They fit perfectly, and the pouch and strap were comfortable enough that Eve barely noticed that they were there. "This is great, Mark," she said, "Though I still feel guilty that you got me something and I didn't get you anything in return."

"Don't worry about it. Really," Mark insisted. "I'm just glad you like it. After having my belt for who knows how long, I know just how convenient stuff like this can be for a trainer," he said, gesturing to the pokéball-studded belt that encircled his own waist. Like Eve's new pouch, the belt was designed to keep pokéballs available for quick use.

"If you're sure…" Eve said. "However, I might really have to decline the next present. It looks too much like a book to bode well for me."

Mark grinned and handed her the other package, which Eve promptly tore into. The item was indeed a hardcover book of moderate size. "You don't need to read the whole thing, of course," Mark said as she looked at the cover. "But I bookmarked a page that I thought you might find interesting. Go ahead and read it aloud, if you want; I bet your pokémon would be interested to hear it, as well."

Eve looked blankly at the cover. "The Legends of Kanto and Johto? I can't imagine what you'd want me to read in this. But I warn you: I didn't nearly fail my senior year just because of math and science. My reading skills aren't exactly top notch. Especially reading aloud."

"I doubt your pokémon will care much, and I certainly won't," Mark said, still grinning. "Just go ahead and read it. The entry is only a page long."

Sighing, Eve flipped through the pages until she came upon the marked myth. The left page had an artfully depicted image of a rather young-looking girl with a long, blond ponytail. She was holding her hand to a pikachu's forehead as if she had some deep level of understanding with the electric mouse.

~That looks like me, except bigger!~ Basil commented as he jumped onto Eve's shoulder to look at the picture. The other pokémon all crowded around as well, just as interested as Eve was to see what Mark wanted her to read.

As Eve glanced over to the other page, she finally figured out just why Mark was showing her this specific page. The title was what gave it away: _Yellow – the Sister, the Healer, and the Speaker to Pokémon._

Mark saw her surprise, and his grin widened even more. "Go on. You want to know more about her now, I can tell. It's not a very well known legend, but it immediately came to my mind when I first heard about you. I remember you saying before that you'd never heard of anyone else who could talk to pokémon, so I thought I'd point out the legend of Yellow. But I'll quit going on about it and let you read the story for yourself."

Definitely intrigued, Eve began to falteringly read the short passage. "Yellow was born some 150 years ago in the area around Viridian Forest, and from birth she had the power to read the thoughts of pokémon and heal their wounds. She attributed these skills to a prominent local myth that stated that every several decades, Viridian Forest would give the power to 'commune with pokémon' to some worthy person. Despite her appearance in this book of myths, there are actually many historical accounts both of her existence and her abilities. According to several of these sources, one of her lesser-known skills was the ability to convert her emotions into strength for her pokémon.

"Her status as a legend can be attributed to the shroud that seems to cover what exactly she did during her short life. While it is universally agreed that she travelled much and accomplished many great deeds, no one can truly come up with proof of her actions. The most credible sources seem to link her to such legendary pokémon as Mew, Lugia, and Celebi. She disappeared when she was about fourteen years old."

Eve blinked at the page for a couple of minutes after finishing the myth, unsure of what to think about it. Mark was surprised by her silence, yet didn't feel it appropriate to interrupt whatever thoughts were going through her head.

Eventually, Eve spoke up once again, though she was speaking more to herself than anyone else. "So this must be the girl the slowpoke was talking about, then. The girl that died at a young age, and who had the same ability as me. Or almost the same ability, I suppose. I can't read thoughts or heal or make my pokémon stronger, but I can at least talk to them. And that girl started a change in nature, or something like that; Celebi mentioned that change as well, even though she didn't mention the girl."

As Eve said this last remark, Mark found himself unable to remain silent. "Celebi? Is that what happened to you in Ilex Forest? You met with Celebi?" His filmy eyes were opened wide, showing his obvious amazement.

"Oh! Did I really say that out loud?" Eve said, quickly snapping out of her thoughts. Mark nodded, and Eve covered her mouth in response. "I didn't really want to tell anyone about that!" she said from behind her hands. "Please don't tell anyone else! It seems like it would be a bad idea to let everyone know that I met with someone like Celebi… This thing about Yellow just got me thinking about some stuff that I'd pushed out of my head during the campaign."

"Is it something you'd be willing to tell me about? Or is it a secret? You seem rather troubled by it, whatever it is. I'd like to help if I can," Mark offered.

Eve shook her head, dispelling her initial reaction to the passage. "No, I don't want you to worry about me; to be honest, I haven't even had the time to be all that troubled about it. But seeing this person talked about in an actual human book just surprised me. You see, I met this really old slowpoke while I was in Azalea Town, and she told me that there was another girl who could communicate with pokémon 150 years ago. She also told me that the girl was killed, and that her death started some sort of era in time… When I met Celebi, I asked her about it, and she confirmed the thing about the change of eras."

"So you mean to say that Celebi met with you for something other than what the slowpoke talked about?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, though I'm not entirely sure if the two meetings are unrelated. Celebi told me that maybe I was destined to do something or experience something, which is why she showed me, um, something in the past," Eve said, unwilling to give away the full details of what Celebi had shown her. "And the slowpoke said that the human she met – probably Yellow – was meddling with something big, which was why she was killed. Now that I think about it more, I suppose that all of this does worry me a bit…"

"Because the slowpoke said that Yellow was murdered?"

Eve nodded.

"I understand why you're worried, then," Mark said, scowling. "Even if that was over a hundred years ago, things like that can't be taken lightly."

As Eve fingered the book that still lay open in her lap, she felt a furry head rub encouragingly against her arm. ~If it makes you feel any better, I certainly won't let anything harm you,~ Aiden said, growling his encouragement.

~Same goes for me, of course, even if I'm as weak as a magikarp!~ Basil said.

~And same for me, too!~ Hannah said, her enthusiasm causing a spicy scent emanating from her leaves. ~Well, except for the magikarp bit.~

Mark apparently guessed what Eve's pokémon were saying, and he decided to add his comment into the mix. As he started returning his pokémon to their pokéballs and packing up the picnic basket and blanket, he said, "If it helps, I'd like to let you know that I'll help in any way I can. If something really is going on or you ever feel endangered, then let me know if you are able. I'll lend you my wits, and I'm sure my pokémon will lend you their strength."

He paused in his speech for a few moments when he finished getting everything packed away. Eve tried to speak up and thank him for the sentiment, but he continued before she could figure out how to word her gratitude.

"You know, I've met a lot of wonderful women in my travels, but I can honestly say that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever known. Not on the superficial level, though, since I can't truly see what you look like; I'm referring to your character. Your soul, you might say. I've never met anyone like you. Lauren at the Pokémon Center told me that you told her that you've never dated. Still,If you aren't completely opposed to the idea, then I was hoping that maybe you might consider going out with me. You don't have to answer me right now… But think about it, if it's even a possibility."

And still before Eve could respond, Tim teleported himself, Mark, and all the picnic supplies Mark was holding away, leaving Eve alone with her three pokémon. Eve just sort of sat there on the ground, speechless for several moments.

~So what do you think, Eve?~ Basil asked, the enthusiasm in his question making his opinion on the matter obvious. ~Are you going to go out with him?~

Eve smiled as she recovered her wits. "To be honest, I'm really not sure." Then, she jokingly added, "But who would've thought that someone as eloquent in politics as Mark could be so corny about asking a girl out?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

~So lets go over the positive aspects of you going out with Mark first,~ Basil suggested as he, Eve, Hannah, and Aiden were trekking towards Ecruteak two days later. They were already over halfway to the city by Eve's guess, and she hoped that they would reach the city by afternoon of the next day. From there, the group would go directly to the miltank farm. Though Eve knew that she had the opportunity to talk to Mark again when she passed through Ecruteak, she in no way had made up her mind about how she felt about dating Mark.

It was because of this fact that every moment of their travel not taken up by training was instead occupied by the topic in question. ~Well, he seems really nice,~ Hannah said as she carefully touched a branch she passed with each of her five extended vines. Even during conversation, she rarely let the opportunity to train slip by. ~That's gotta be one of his plusses. At the very least, he's much nicer than that Katsu kid.~

~He helped protect you when I didn't act quickly enough! And he said he would protect you more!~ Aiden barked. Of course, his blind loyalty to Eve's defense was his sole concern.

Basil flicked an ear in agreement as he rode on Hannah's back. ~And you two get along well. He's a great guy, and very passionate about things that are important to you. He even asks our opinion about stuff, albeit through you since he can't understand us directly. If there's anyone who's the right person to be in a relationship with you, I think it's him.~

"Very good points, and I'll agree with all of them," Eve said. "But what about the bad aspects of getting into a relationship with him? I can think of a couple. For one, I have no idea how the press will react to it. Surely Mark's thought about the possibility of the media attacking the relationship in some way. And whether they support it or not, we'll still get bombarded with paparazzi and interviewers. Then there's the fact that I have absolutely no experience with dating. The few human friends that I had back in Goldenrod never dated, and movies and TV can only tell me so much."

Basil tapped his tail against Hannah's back in thought. ~I don't think either of those will matter much if you both really like each other. You do like him, right?~

"Of course!" Eve said, blushing slightly. "As you already mentioned, he's a really great guy. And he treats pokémon like true equals… If I'm being honest, I might even like him for that fact alone. In today's society, it's difficult for anyone to think like that. Even most pokémon rights activists still think of pokémon as dumb beasts. That's why they feel the need to protect them; because they see pokémon as vulnerable idiots. But anyway, I'm getting off track slightly. What were we talking about?"

~Possible negative aspects of a relationship with Mark,~ Hannah said, still training her vines.

Basil spoke up again. ~I thought of another one. Remember that time Mark got angry after one of the rallies? You don't deal well with that kind of hatred. Even if it is directed towards people that you disagree with.~

Eve frowned. "Yeah, that's true. I was thinking about that earlier, actually. Most of the time Mark is really calm, but when he gets angry… whoever's the cause had better watch out."

Suddenly, Aiden stopped walking, tensed his body, and growled uneasily. ~I smell blood in the air,~ he said ominously. ~Human blood. Definitely human blood. The human herself smells familiar, too… Like… like…~ His demeanor changed as recognition flickered through his muscles. He darted off, barking, ~It's the girl who saved us! When you found me in the ally!~

Without thinking, Eve dashed after the agitated growlithe, and Hannah and Basil quickly followed after her. _Oh, Hope, what have you done?_ Eve wondered as she gasped for air. _I don't think you would have hurt another person… not for lack of ability, but for lack of motivation, so it's probably not someone else's blood. And Aiden only mentioned one human, which means that you're definitely the one who got hurt. But maybe it's not as bad as I'm imagining; I hope Aiden is only overreacting at the smell._

It took Aiden a while to lead the small group through the trees. Apparently, Hope had been hurt closer to the path, but then had gone further into the surrounding woods, leaving the fragrant drops of blood that Aiden could easily follow. After a good five minutes or so, Eve caught sight of a figure sitting against a tree, her chin leaning against her chest in apparent slumber.

_Well, either slumber or…_

Eve didn't finish the thought. She rushed over to Hope and gently shook her. To Eve's great relief, Hope woke without much trouble. But as a she lifted her face and a beam of light snuck through the canopy leaves to illuminate her, Eve began to get an idea of just how badly injured she was.

The first thing that caught Eve's eye was the swath of spinarak thread that clung to Hope's face. It started at the edge of her scalp above her left eye, then stretched diagonally downward past her eye, across the bridge of her nose, and down across her right cheek before ending towards the back of her jaw. The entire length of the bandage was stained red, and crusty splashes of dried blood extended downwards from the bandage.

Her right eye, the one above the bandage, was badly injured as well, and yet this cut was not wrapped up at all. A thin slash, parallel to the covered wound, extended from her eyebrow downwards. The eyelid itself was torn almost in half, though the blood crusted on it made it hard for Eve to determine even that much. As Hope looked dimly at her visitor, Eve saw that this eye was miraculously unharmed, despite the damage to the eyelid; whatever the attacker had been, it must have barely caught the flap of skin with the tip of its claw.

"I suppose I must look like a mess," Hope said faintly as she leaned her head back against the tree trunk. "It's really not too bad."

Eve snapped out of her original shock and crouched down next to Hope. "What are you talking about? It's probably worse than it looks, seeing as I can't see beneath the bandage." Then, looking back to the dried blood, she asked, "How long have you been like this?"

A slight smirk tugged at the edge of her mouth. "Can't really say for sure. I was attacked a little before sunset, and I barely managed to move here and get spinarak to patch me up before I passed out. And now you woke me up. So I guess it's been a bit less than a day."

_Not good, not good, _Eve thought to herself. _That means she's lost a lot of blood, and she hasn't eaten or had anything to drink for nearly twenty hours._ She dropped her traveling bag onto the ground beside it and started digging around in it for supplies. "So what happened?"

"I was walking to Ecruteak. Out of nowhere, a pidgeotto attacked me. My pokémon were with me and managed to fight it off, but the talons had done their damage in the first swoop."

Eve nodded as she pulled out some generic painkillers and her water bottle. "Okay, well I've got some painkillers here, and I've got some extra food farther down in my bag."

Hope shook her head slightly. "I don't need the painkillers. The food and water would be welcome, though."

A birdlike screech suddenly pierced the air, and Eve jerked around as a tangled heap of feathers and spider webs crashed to the ground a few feet from where the two girls were. Before Eve could blink, Hope's four pokémon had surrounded the shrieking pidgeotto, all of them looking ready to go in for the kill. Eve hadn't even realized that Hope's pokémon were out of their pokéballs. _They must have been guarding Hope, but they let me pass since they knew me. Maybe they were hiding so that they could catch the pidgeotto like this if she returned._

The pidgeotto, meanwhile, continued to screech in her high, whistle-like voice. ~I'm sorry, I'm sorry!~ she repeated over and over again, obviously in hysterics. ~But my eggs, my eggs! And my mate! Gone! I'm sorry!~ In her talons, Eve could see a couple of berries.

Rather than order her pokémon to make a move, Hope tilted her head to face Eve once again. "What is the pidgeotto saying? Why did it attack me?"

Eve was almost moved to tears at the sight of the pitiful state of the pidgeotto, normally such a proud species of pokémon. "It's hard to tell because she's so upset. But it sounds like her eggs and her mate disappeared. She probably became so enraged that she attacked you, and then felt bad enough afterward that she came back to apologize. I think that's why she has the berries."

The injured girl seemed to dwell on this thought for a few moments. Then, without a word, she reached her left hand over to the pokéball bracelet on her right wrist and pulled out one of the three pokéballs from within the coil.

"I can't speak loudly right now, nonetheless throw a pokéball," Hope said to Eve as she handed the pokéball to her. "Would you ask the pidgeotto if she would like to join me?"

Eve looked at her friend, somewhat confused. "So you want a pokémon on your team that just tried to kill you?"

Hope shrugged, her eyes trained on the frenzied pidgeotto. "She lost her eggs and her mate. Tragedy is how all of my pokémon so far have joined me. She would fit in well with the others."

Somehow saddened by this answer, yet determined to fulfill Hope's request, Eve walked over to the grounded pidgeotto. She attempted talking to the bird, but the pidgeotto continued its sorrow-laden ramblings without any sort of sign that she knew Eve was present.

Seeing that she was making no progress, Eve sat down next to the pidgeotto and pulled the bird into her lap, hugging the feathered head to her chest in an attempt to calm her. For a few moments, the bird continued to struggle more fervently; one of her feet managed to break free from the spider webs, and the freed talons slashed through Eve's jeans and deep into her flesh.

Eve cried out in pain and hugged the pidgeotto all the tighter. Basil, Hannah, and Aiden crowded closer, all on edge, ready to jump to their trainer's aid if something else happened.

However, the pidgeotto was finally losing her energy, thanks in part to the suffocating hold Eve had on her. As the bird calmed, Eve relaxed her grip somewhat and began to speak. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. I can't imagine what you must be going through. But I do imagine that you need some sort of guidance, or else I'm afraid you might lose yourself to grief. The girl you injured wants me to ask if you if you'd be interested in joining her." Eve started to rip the sticky threads from the pidgeotto's body as best she could. After a minute or so, the pidgeotto was free enough to push herself out of Eve's lap and hop a few feet away from her.

Eve picked up the pokéball that she had set on the ground, and then met the keen, doleful eyes of the large bird. The pidgeotto glanced back and forth from the pokéball to Eve as a keening whistle issued from her beak, a sound empty of words and yet full of meaning. Then, still without words, the pidgeotto hopped and flapped towards Eve. Thinking that she was attacking, all of Eve's pokémon moved as if to stop her; but her beak had touched the capture mechanism of the pokéball before anyone could do anything. The bird disappeared in a flash of light; she had made her decision.

Silently, Eve limped back over to the tree that Hope was still propped against and put the pokéball in the girl's lap. Then she sat down and pulled back her jeans to look at her own wounds. She winced as she saw the damage: three deep, short gashes on the inside of her right calf. Yet even as she asked Spinarak to wrap her wounds, the pains her mind dwelt upon were not her own.

* * *

So... I must admit, I've never been one much for romance. I like to include it in my stories, but it's definitely not my strong point... So here's hoping the ending of the first half of this chapter didn't sound too stupid. (Even though I know it did.)

And it makes me laugh that, right after attempting a touching moment, I go straight into Hope's little accident. I guess I have some troubles ending chapters on a happy note. By the way, I really didn't plan for Eve to get hurt in this chapter... It just sort of happened when I was writing. Funny how events take on a life of their own...

Oh, and if you want to keep on reading this, then please hope and pray that I get some more time to write! I only have one and a half more chapters written as of the posting of this chapter, and it doesn't look like I'll have a ton of time in the near future... Which stinks, because we'll finally be getting into the really exciting stuff. The stuff that these fifteen or sixteen chapters have all been leading up to. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm about them, to be perfectly honest. So yeah, be excited and hope for the best concerning my time-management skills!

Last but not least... Another thanks to Yaersulf for being just plain awesome! Thanks for all your reviews and comments on the story! It makes me happy to see that you like the story enough to review regularly! It really is much appreciated! ^_^


	16. New Acquaintances

I don't do this often, but... I hereby dedicate this chapter to a person at my school, David, who passed away rather recently. David, I never knew you that well, but you always seemed like an awesome guy. And somehow, you seemed like the kind of person who would appreciate having someone you barely knew dedicate a random chapter in a pokémon fanfic to you. If that assumption is wrong... Well, it's the thought that counts, right? But in all seriousness... Rest in peace. We all miss you.

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: New Acquaintances**

"Is that… No, it couldn't be…" Eve said as she rode on Houndoom's back with Hope. Neither of the two girls was in much condition for walking, so the smooth, steady trot of the strong dark-type had been their best option for the journey the rest of the way to Ecruteak. After several hours of travel, Eve was finally seeing the first houses that marked the outskirts of town. But those houses weren't the sight that had caught Eve's eye.

~One of those two guys up ahead is Katsu, isn't it?~ Basil said, answering Eve's disbelieving question; aside from Houndoom, he was the only pokémon that either Hope or Eve had out. ~As much as I dislike him, that seems to be a stroke of luck. Maybe he can tell us where the hospital is. That is, unless you have some better idea?~

Eve shook her head, being careful not to jostle Hope too much. Aside from a little bit of Spinarak's webbing keeping Hope in place, Eve's position behind Hope was the only thing keeping the unconscious teen from falling off of her pokémon's back. "I've never been to Ecruteak before. Ever," Eve said in response to Basil's question. "So I guess I don't have a choice… Houndoom, would you mind stopping? Katsu might be able to point us to the hospital."

Houndoom obliged, though Eve could feel the fire-type's muscles tensing and a growl rising in her throat as they got closer. Eve wanted to ask what the problem was, but Houndoom's quick pace had already brought the group right next to Katsu and his companion.

As Eve temporarily turned her attention away from Houndoom's anxiety and towards Katsu's roughly twenty year old friend, she noticed that he had a very kind, carefree look to him, though Eve couldn't quite trace the reason for this impression; perhaps it was his ruddy complexion, or his ever so slightly pudgy stature, or the jovial look in his bright brown eyes. His casual attire of faded jeans and loose t-shirt only added to his amiable aura, though his brown hair was cut just short enough to show that he wasn't completely lax as far as appearance went.

For a few speechless moments, Katsu looked back and forth from Eve's torn and bloodied jean leg to Hope's bandaged face. "Eve? What in the world happened to you two?"

"There was some pokémon trouble, and I tried to sort things out," Eve explained hurriedly, looking worriedly at Hope. "I really need to get her to a hospital, and I probably need to have my own wound looked at as well. But I've never been to Ecruteak before. Do you know where the nearest hospital is?"

Katsu shook his head. "I haven't been to Ecruteak in a long while. I was walking into town myself when I started talking to Brian here. Brian, you wouldn't happen to know where the hospital is, do you?"

"I do, actually," Brain said, looking both serious and glad to help. "But don't you think it'd be better to just call for the ambulance now that you're close to the city?"

"Oh. Guess I forgot about that," Eve said. "That would probably be better than having Houndoom carry two injured people through town, I suppose." Eve quickly dialed the number for emergencies, explained her situation, then handed the phone over to Brian since he could more accurately describe their location than she could.

As soon as he hung up, Brian handed the cell back to Eve. "They say they'll be here in about fifteen minutes. And I know you're injured and all, so now probably isn't the best time to say this, but I must say that it's an honor to finally meet you." Turning to Katsu, he said, "Why didn't you mention you were friends with the famous Eve?"

"Didn't get the chance," Katsu said neutrally. "Anyway, though I wish I could introduce you guys under better circumstances… Brian, this is Eve and Hope, some acquaintances of mine. Eve, this is Brian, a public representative and recruiter for Rocket Corporation."

Eve and Brian both reacted noticeably to this introduction. Eve frowned, upset at the idea that such a nice-looking man worked for a company that caught, traded, and sold pokémon for profit. Brian, on the other hand, seemed utterly stunned by the introduction of Hope, of all things.

"Wait… That's Hope under that bandage?" He said, a surprised grin on his face. "Well I'll be a mankey's uncle! I haven't seen her in nearly a year. Guess I should've known something like this would happen to her. Her injury isn't too bad, I hope?" He asked this last question with obvious concern.

Quickly forgetting Brian's job, Eve responded, "Well, she's not going to die, but I think she's lost enough blood that she'll be in the hospital for at least a week or so. But you're saying you actually know Hope? She never struck me as someone who made friends easily." Eve looked incredulously at her unconscious friend. _Maybe she hasn't always been as cold to others as she is now… For all I know, she could've been a completely different person a year ago._

Brian soon dispelled Eve's thought. "No, we were never really friends. You're right; she always tries to be rather distant from others. But we worked together for several years, so I know her that way. I'd been wondering what had become of her. I'll have to visit her once she's better, so I can catch up on what she's been up to."

"So you're saying that Hope had a job?" Eve said, absolutely befuddled by the concept of Hope working for anyone. Then, recalling Katsu's introduction, she added, "And that job was at Rocket Corporation?"

Brian nodded. "You seem surprised. Did she never tell you?"

"No," Eve said. "She normally doesn't say anything unless you ask her directly. Why did she stop working there?"

Shrugging, Brian's smile widened further. "Who's to know what goes on in that girl's mind? She just up and left one day. No notice of resignation or anything. But anyway, so long as we're talking, there's actually something I'd like to ask you on behalf of Rocket Corporation… Technically, I suppose upper management hasn't completely given the okay on the proposal, but I won't get in trouble for at least mentioning the request." He acted as if he'd go straight to his question, but stopped as he heard the sound of the ambulance approaching. "You know, just never mind. I'll hopefully run into you sometime soon, maybe when I visit Hope. Best wishes to the both of you on your respective recoveries!"

Eve thanked him for his consideration as the ambulance came to a stop in the road. She also said a quick goodbye to Katsu, who actually hadn't said much throughout the encounter. He replied politely, sounding more or less as if he had no bad feelings about the terminated friendship between himself and Eve.

Before they could say much in the way of goodbyes, though, Eve was helped into the ambulance after Hope had been lifted in via stretcher. Eve returned both Basil and Houndoom to their pokéballs before entering; even with Basil's small size, Eve somehow doubted that pokémon were allowed into ambulances with hospital patients.

Eve sat in the back next to Hope's stretcher as the ambulance began moving. The only other person with them was a medic, who was busy checking Hope's dangerously low blood pressure and other vital signs. After maybe a minute of this, Hope fully woke up for the first time in several hours, to Eve's surprise. The medic immediately began asking questions ('what's your pain level, on a scale of one to ten,' 'What all are you feeling right now?', etc.), but Hope rather pointedly ignored her.

Rather, she immediately looked over to Hope, her eyes showing the smallest glimmer of an emotion that Eve couldn't recognize it. "That was Brian out there, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Um, yeah," Eve confirmed; she had assumed Hope to be unconscious at the time of the conversation, so it surprised her that she'd realized who had been present.

Hope sighed. "I thought so. That makes things complicated."

Eve wanted to ask what she meant by that, but Hope began to answer the medic's questions before Eve had the chance. Knowing that Hope's health was more important that her own curiosity, she patiently decided to bide her time until a more opportune moment presented itself.

_I can't help but wonder… Is there something more to Hope and Brian's relationship than what Brian said about them being coworkers?_

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Five days later, Eve was on the road again, heading west to the "MooMoo Miltank Farm" of Whitney's uncle. Yet she was doing so under such strange conditions that not even Eve herself knew quite why she was doing so.

First of all, she knew it wasn't healthy to be on the road. She'd found out at the hospital that her muscles had been badly damaged by Pidgeotto's talons. The doctors had actually managed to sew the muscle together quite well using a certain strong and thin variety of ariados webbing, but that was only to ensure that the muscle healed together properly. It would still be over a month before Eve could walk normally again, and this early on in the healing process, what she really needed most was rest. Yet Whitney had called, saying that the miltank were getting drastically worse; Eve had felt obliged to hurry on her way.

Her reckless insistence to travel so soon after being injured was in part excused by Eve's second odd circumstance: she was currently riding Hope's houndoom. In fact, she had all of Hope's pokémon with her, even though Hope herself was still recovering in the hospital.

~So would you please explain again why we're leaving Hope by herself?~ Hope's sneasel asked as the odd group of one human and eight pokémon continued down the path through the increasingly agricultural landscape. This was the first time that Eve had heard the ice-type actually say something. Perhaps this reflected just how uncomfortable the entire group was with this arrangement. ~You said she asked you to take us with you… And Marowak verified this… But I'm still not buying it. Something seems wrong with the whole picture.~

Eve shook her head, understanding Sneasel's suspicion. "I agree with you one hundred percent, actually. I don't completely understand Hope's logic. But before I left, she asked me to take you all with me and take care of you until I return… Someone named Brian had been visiting her, and she seemed kind of concerned about him." Noticing that Sneasel, Marowak, and Houndoom, had all tensed at the name, Eve asked, "Do you guys know him? Or why Hope would want me to take you with me while she stays at the hospital?"

~I've been thinking about it since we left town… I have a fairly good idea why Hope would want us to be with you,~ Marowak said. Despite his rather solemn demeanor, he was actually a nice enough pokémon once Eve got around to knowing him. He perhaps didn't have the honor that Houndoom had, but at least he didn't possess the condescending attitude that Sneasel couldn't hide even in his usual silence.

~Tell us what she was thinking, then!~ Basil said. ~Someone is certainly not telling us something. I want to know what's up with this Brian person that would make Hope act so strangely.~

Houndoom growled. ~I don't think it's our place to mention it. Right, Marowak?~

~Agreed,~ Marowak said. ~It's human business. You'll need to ask Hope if you want answers.~

"But I already did ask Hope," Eve said, not protesting Marowak's decision but also not happy that she was being kept in the dark. "I suppose if she doesn't want to tell me, she doesn't have to… And I'm more than happy to have you four and Pidgeotto hang out for a couple days, especially since you'd be cooped up in your pokéballs with her in the hospital. But still, I wish Hope would just trust me and not be so secretive about it."

Marowak's tapped her bone against the ground in agitation. ~It's not quite that simple,~ He said. ~She can't just open up and tell you what's on her mind.~

"Why?" Eve asked. "She always seems so sad… I can't help but think that having a friend to talk to might help…" Her thought trailed off momentarily before remembering something that Hope had said during the pidgeotto fiasco. "She said that she met all of you through tragedy." Eve glanced up at Pidgeotto, who was flying high above the group, then looked at Spinarak, who was crawling along next to Sneasel. "Having seen how two of you joined her, I guess I can believe it. And she says she's known you for so long, Marowak… Did you really have a tragedy that long ago?"

A new heaviness seemed to enter the steps of the prehistoric-looking pokémon. ~It seems like any pokémon born a cubone is born into tragedy. But it wasn't just me who endured sadness years ago; my mother died at the same time as both of Hope's parents.~

Eve nearly fell from Houndoom's back in shock. "So both you and Hope are orphans? How did that possibly happen? Was there an accident?"

~If it had been an accident, then maybe Hope would be a different sort of person. Or maybe she wouldn't be; even before the murder, she wasn't much different than she is now.~

"Murder?" Eve practically whispered, unable to contain her horror at the idea.

Marowak nodded sadly. ~My mother was a marowak, and as Hope tells me, marowak bones are highly valued by humans. Why this is, I can't begin to say. Team Rocket knew that Hope's parents were friendly with my mother, who was wild, so they took Hope's parents captive. The Rockets tortured her parents to draw out my mother. It worked. As soon as she came out, they killed my mother. Then they found my siblings and killed them for their bones, too. I stayed hidden, watching the whole thing. And then they killed Hope's parents, just because they were no longer of any use to them.~

Eve couldn't believe it. No matter how darkly Hope acted, she never would have suspected that her parents had actually been killed in such a brutal manner. "I'm sorry… For the both of you."

Marowak tapped his bone-weapon to his head knowingly. ~That's how the world works. There's too much sorrow in the world for you to mourn what happened years ago to the two of us. And I'm sure Hope wouldn't want your sorrow, either. She hardly mourned when her parents were found dead. She's empty, you might say. I've seen her cry only once in the years that I've known her.~

"So did anything like that happen to you two as well?" Eve asked Sneasel and Houndoom, though she was almost afraid to raise the question for fear of what the answer might be. "Marowak lost his parents, Spinarak was on the verge of death, and Pidgeotto lost her mate and children… Was it the same for you? Did all of you join Hope under such sad conditions?"

Sneasel nonchalantly carved a gash into a small sapling as he passed it. ~I was being hunted by Houndoom's pack of houndor. One ice-type versus a pack of fire-types meant that I would have died quickly. Hope had Marowak – though he was a cubone at the time – fight off the entire pack single-handedly. They saved me from certain death. It felt only natural for me to join her.~

~I was one of the houndour that was chasing Sneasel, as he mentioned,~ Houndoom said. ~But my life in the pack was hardly a life at all. I was weak, and the entire pack knew it. They didn't tolerate weakness. They would've killed me some day. So when every single one of us was defeated by one tiny cubone, I knew that that was the kind of power I needed. I forced myself to my feet and stood side-by-side with Sneasel, who sensed our shared intention. Hope apparently sensed our resolve as well; she took one look at us, then took out her pokéballs and captured us. She was about ten at the time, I believe.~

Pidgeotto suddenly swooped down and perched her light body on one of Houndoom's horns. ~The farm is just up ahead,~ she said listlessly. Her feathers were messy and unpreened, showing that she was still too in mourning for her family to bother with any sort of grooming.

"Thanks for telling me," Eve said, doing her best to shove all the sad history to the back of her mind. She needed to focus on her reason for coming to the farm. "Now if you guys don't mind, I'll probably put most of you back in your pokéballs when we actually arrive at the farm. Basil and Aiden can stay out, I suppose, and I need Houndoom to ride on, but having everyone else around might be a bit too much."

The others whom Eve hadn't mentioned were put away in their pokéballs as the small group got closer to their destination. The small, well-worn footpath that they were following gradually turned into a broader, more rutted road as they passed between more and more pasturelands, many of which were filled with miltank.

But these weren't the strong, healthy, confident sort of miltank that Whitney's Millie had been. Most were fidgety and jumpy, acting overly scared whenever a spearow flew by or when they caught sight of Eve and her group. More noticeable than the nervousness was the horrid coughing that seemed to come from every miltank, filling the air with a cacophony of misery.

After several minutes of searching for someone to talk about why she was here, Eve found a middle-aged man carting some straw bedding to one of the main barns at the center of the ranch. "Excuse me, Sir," Eve said, feeling rather out of place; she'd never been on any sort of farm before. "Could you tell me where Whitney's uncle is?"

The man set down his load, took off his hat, and wiped his brow with the back of his arm, apparently unconcerned with the fact that the dust from his arm made his face even grimier than it already was. "You're lookin' at 'im. The name's Rob. I'm guessin' that you're the girl Whitney told me about?"

Eve smiled, amused both by Rob's rural accent and demeanor. "I guess so. My name is Eve, and Whitney asked me to come by and try to figure out what's wrong with your miltank."

"If you can figure out the problem, there's no tellin' how grateful I'll be," Rob said. "None of the miltank are producin' enough milk for this farm to stay out of debt. If they stay like this for another few months, then my ranch'll be broke. If you're ready to help, then why don't you get off that pokémon of yours and I'll take you to the miltank that're worst off."

Eve did as she was told, not worried about walking around for a little bit. The limp was obvious, though, and Rob seemed all the more grateful for her help when she explained that she had come despite her injury. Rob quietly led the way into one of the barns, as if afraid he would disturb someone if he went in loudly.

Inside the barn, a dozen thin-looking miltank were coughing almost continuously. Eve visibly flinched when she saw the state they were in; even after years of working in a pokémon center, these skinny miltank were by far some of the sickest pokémon Eve had ever seen.

"They're all yours," Rob said, gesturing to the row of stalls. "If'n you can do anythin' for 'em, or if'n you could tell me what I could do for 'em, then I won't forget it. This here blight that they're dealin' with seems terrible awful, that's for sure."

"Blight?" Eve asked, unfamiliar with the word.

Rob scratched his head. "Yeah, ya' know, like a sickness or somethin'. My dad always said that when his crops got all withered."

Eve nodded in understanding, then went up to the first stall and opened the door; the miltank inside didn't react at all to her visitor. She was too busy hacking and wheezing to notice. Crouching down next to the miltank, Eve scratched the suffering creature between her ears. The miltank relaxed somewhat in response to the soothing feeling, and her coughing eased momentarily.

"Miltank, do you have any idea what's wrong with you and all the other miltank?" Eve asked. "Is there something in the air that's irritating your lungs?"

The miltank's tail twitched as she began to relate her troubles. ~It's more than just that. Sure, we can smell something sometimes, and that's what's bothering our breathing. But it's not just bad air. Some 'thing' is causing the bad air. Whenever we smell it, strange things happen. We're normally a calm sort of pokémon, but when we feel something that isn't there breeze by us, or see something perfectly stable get knocked over, then we get jumpy. We're just all too creeped out to get a good night's sleep, which means we can't recover from the coughing.~

All of a sudden, the miltank jerked upright, knocking Eve on her back in the process. ~It's here!~ she said. ~I can smell it!~

Basil and Aiden went immediately on guard, arranging themselves so that they were on one side of Eve and the wall of the stall was on her other side. ~I smell it as well,~ Aiden growled. ~But I don't recognize the scent.~

Eve was a little bit paranoid after the miltank's description of the mysterious something, and she looked around frantically to find the source of the trouble. She was scared by the fact that there was something that could make all these miltank so sick, and yet it couldn't be seen. Even Basil's strong ears couldn't locate the invisible something.

_We're completely in the dark… It could be right in front of us, but we can't see it. What could it be? And why am I getting goosebumps? Am I freaking myself out, or am I maybe sensing something around us as well, even if I can't smell it like the pokémon can?_

Eve was unable to hold back the brief scream that rose in her throat when she felt something slimy and warm move across the skin on her arm. The arm had been barely an inch away from the wall of the stable; whatever had touched her, she soon realized, it must have phased through the wall somehow to do so.

~What's wrong!~ Basil asked, turning around and checking to make sure that Eve was all right. Rob burst into the stall at the same time, asking the same question.

Gradually, Eve managed to slow her breathing. She wasn't hurt, she reasoned, so there was no need to panic. Plus, all the pokémon were calming down somewhat; apparently, the smell had gone away, which meant that there was nothing to worry about for the moment. "Something… Something licked me, I think," Eve said, holding up the arm that appeared to be slathered in a rather saliva-like liquid. Aiden and Basil both sniffed at it, though neither were able to identify it one hundred percent as saliva or as something entirely different. Whatever it was, Eve quickly wiped it off on the side of the stall.

Shakily, she pushed herself up and faced Rob. "I think… I think that maybe your problem might be a ghost. Like, you know, a ghost-type pokémon. I've never met a ghost-type, so I can't be sure, but I went to a trainer summer school a few weeks ago. My teacher said that ghost- types can do some pretty weird things, like going through walls or making themselves invisible. I don't know about the coughing for sure, though, or what it's doing to make that happen. But whatever the ghost is, it has a smell that the pokémon can recognize. I wonder… Has anything strange happened when you're around? Like things mysteriously falling over?"

"I reckon not," Rob replied, perplexed. "I haven't seen nothin' that I can think of. Other than the miltank gettin' sick, everythin's been pretty normal 'round hereabouts."

Eve shuddered slightly. "That probably means the ghost has taken an interest in me, if it hasn't done this to any other human yet… Most pokémon are rather curious when they see me, since most have never met a human who can talk to them. On the plus side, maybe the ghost will leave your miltank alone for a while if it's concentrating on me." Despite her forced optimism, Eve didn't particularly like the idea of a ghost possibly following her around, especially considering the damage that the ghost in question had already done. _Then again, it hasn't directly attacked any of the miltank… just scared them a bit, and somehow messed with their lungs. Maybe I'm not in any immediate danger. _

"So do ya have any idea of how to get rid of a ghost?" Rob asked.

Eve shook her head. "No, but maybe I could talk with it. Or battle it, if that doesn't work. Do you mind if I just wander around the farm for a bit? If he was interested enough in me to scare me once, then maybe he'll show up to do it again."

Rob looked concerned about that proposal. "Ya sure ya want to do that, Miss Eve? I don't want ya to get hurt on my behalf."

She limped out of the barn and released Houndoom from her pokéball. "Yeah, I'm sure," Eve said as she pulled herself onto Houndoom's back. "I'll find you later and tell you if I have any success or not."

As Houndoom began to wander the fields at Eve's request, the hound asked, ~Do I smell ghost-type pokémon on you?~

Amazed at how easily Houndoom had identified the scent, Eve replied, "Yes, actually, you probably do. Do you have any experience dealing with ghost-types? I think that's the problem with the miltank around here."

Houndoom growled with a rather dark satisfaction. ~We houndoom may seem as demonic as ghosts to most humans, but I was raised to know differently. Our own pack legends say that we are the bane of ghosts. Our fires can bring light to the darkness that ghosts bring, and our dark nature allows us to destroy anything even remotely ghost like. That's why power is so important to us. We have to have it in order to fulfill our duty of hunting and killing ghost-types. In fact… I smell the ghost now. It's following us. May I hunt it?~

"Catch it, but don't kill it, please," Eve said. "I want to at least talk to it before we decide what to do with it."

The hound bristled, but accepted Eve's command. ~I suspected as much. You really are like the friend in my pack who saved me. She never wanted anything to die unnecessarily. Anyway, this ghost isn't as cautious as the ones my pack hunted… It should be an easy catch. Hold on tight.~

Houndoom suddenly spun around and sent a spray of embers into the air. Most of the coals soared unhindered, dying out before they reached the ground. However, a small number of them caught in mid-air, revealing for a moment a gaseous shadow.

~Found you!~ Houndoom growled triumphantly as she leapt into the air, somehow catching the ethereal form in a vicious bite. Eve held onto Houndoom's horns for dear life as they touched back down to the ground, yet the leap had been graceful; Eve probably would've stayed seated even without her firm grip.

The gaseous blob squirmed in Houndoom's mouth, yet was unable to slip from its captor's jaws. ~Let me go! I'm not doing anything wrong!~

Eve slid from Houndoom's back, then moved in for a closer look at the ghost. Most of the ghost's body – if you could call it that – consisted of a dark purple gas, which was most concentrated in the center and more diffuse the farther it drifted from that core of the pokémon. Its eyes and mouth were located at this almost spherical core, contorted in a look of pain. Though Eve had never met one before, she recognized the pokémon as a gastly. This one in particular was a female with what seemed to Eve to be an abnormally large amount of gas circling her body.

"Why have you been hurting the miltank here, Gastly?" Eve asked.

The gastly went to the effort of ignoring the pain when she realized she was being spoken to. ~Hurting the miltank? What are you talking about? I've been playing tricks on them. It's all in good fun. They laugh at it, too.~

"They weren't laughing when I saw them," Eve said solemnly. "Most of them are very sick. Your tricks keep them from sleeping, and your gas is making them cough so much that they don't have any energy left."

~Coughing? What's that?~ the gastly asked. ~And would you please let me go? Now that my trick is ruined, there's no sense in me trying to hide anymore.~

Eve gestured for Houndoom to unclench her jaws. She reluctantly did so, and the gastly held true to what she had said and stayed put.

"You don't know what coughing is?" Eve asked incredulously. "Really?"

~Nope… Would you explain?~

Eve sighed. "Well, I guess you don't have to breathe, so you wouldn't really experience it yourself. But for those of us who have to breathe to survive, coughing is something we do when everything doesn't feel quite right with our lungs… which is something else you wouldn't understand."

~It's like this,~ Basil said as he gave a little cough.

The gastly dropped a few inches in the air. ~Oh. You mean that's not laughing? It seemed a little bit like how gastly laugh when the miltank did it.~

Eve shook her head. "No, it's not laughing, And when they cough, it means something's wrong. In this case, I think your gases are messing with their breathing. It's making them sick. And since you scare the miltank so much, they can't rest enough to get better."

The gastly looked about as chastised as possible. ~I could try controlling my gasses more… but I suppose they probably don't want me around anymore if they feel that way, do they?~

"Not really. I'm sorry," Eve said, seeing that the gastly was completely sincere. How she couldn't have realized that the miltank weren't enjoying themselves before now, Eve couldn't begin to guess.

~But what should I do then?~ the gastly asked. ~I used to live in Pokémon Tower, but then humans ruined the place. They took out all the marvelous graves. I guess I could move into Sprout Tower. That's where a lot of my friends went when we couldn't stay at Pokémon Tower…~

"That sounds like a good idea," Eve said. "Just so long as you don't cause too much trouble, then I bet the humans there won't even notice you."

~But it just sounds so boring…~ She seemed rather sad, though a few moments later she brightened considerably as an idea entered her mind. ~What if I came with you? Could I? I mean, you're so weird, talking to pokémon and stuff. It's cool! I bet it'd be exciting!~

"I don't know… " Eve said, uncertain what it would be like to have a ghost type around. "I can understand not wanting to be bored, but my life isn't all that exciting. Surely you can find something else to do."

~But I want to go with you!~ the gastly insisted. ~Being a trainer's pokémon would at least be a change of pace. Even playing pranks on the miltank was getting boring… But if I was with you, I bet I'd get to see all sorts of things!~

"What do you two think?" Eve asked Basil and Aiden. "I'll still need to talk to Hannah… But surely it can't hurt to have someone else along with us, can it?"

Aiden sniffed at the ghost cautiously. ~I don't know… She definitely smells weird. But if you want her along, then it's not my place to decide.~

~I'm fine with it, I guess. So long as she promises to keep pranks to a minimum.~ Basil said, thinking ahead.

The gastly was disheartened. ~No pranks? Really?~

~Not _no_ pranks,~ Basil explained, his cheeks sparking mischievously. ~I love a good prank as much as the next pokémon. Just don't be goofing around all the time.~

Eve quickly released Hannah from her pokéball, and explained the situation to the bayleef. Hannah readily agreed to accepting the gastly onto the team, on the condition that the gastly would train with her some; she'd never battled a ghost before.

"Well, I suppose that settles it," Eve said, pulling out an empty pokéball from her bag. "The farmer called you a blight, so would you mind me calling you Blight for a nickname? It's got sort of a ring to it."

The gases swirled happily around her. ~Call me whatever you want! One name's the same as any other. I don't see the difference. I'm just glad that I'll finally get to do something fun!~

;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Well, I'm glad that's all settled," Eve said as she got off the phone with Whitney later that day. The whole group – Eve, her pokémon, and Hope's pokémon – were currently just outside of Ecruteak, after the half-a-day's trek back from the farm. "I'm glad that Rob wasn't too angry with you, Blight… But when I told him about everything, he just seemed glad that I was getting you away from his miltank. And Whitney was ecstatic that I'd figured everything out, so she barely cares one way or another how I did it."

~Glad to hear it!~ Blight said as he floated next to Eve's head, making her cough a little. ~I don't want anyone really mad at me, after all.~

Eve smiled; despite her earlier doubts, she was finding that she liked the Blight's lighthearted attitude and impish sense of humor. However, her mind was quickly drawn to something else that had been nagging at her for the last few miles of travel. The thought was getting so annoying that Eve decided to give in to the irksome impulse. "Hey Houndoom, would you mind going more north from here, towards that tower? You know, that burned one, not the big ornate one in the distance."

Houndoom whipped her tail back and forth in agitation. ~I'd much prefer we get back to Hope. I feel uneasy about leaving her undefended for so long.~

Eve understood Houndoom's concern, yet now that she'd spoken about her urge to see the tower, it began to swell in her like a wigglytuff inflating itself. "I'm sorry, but this feels really important. It probably won't take long. It just seems like I really ought to go see Burned Tower – I think that's what it's called, at least."

~Are you alright, Eve?~ Basil asked, jumping from Hannah's head onto Houndoom's back. ~You're saying weird things. Why would you need to go see that tower?~

"I don't know. I really don't know. All I know is that I have to go see it," she explained, her words gaining energy as they spilled from her mouth. "It's important, I'm sure of it. Now that I think about it, I think this is like what Celebi was talking about with Fate. She said that she felt compelled to take me into the past, and that she couldn't really refuse it. Well, I think I finally understand what she meant. It's going to drive me nuts if I don't go to Burned Tower right now. I think it's the same sort of thing."

Basil uneasily switched his weight from one paw to another as he stood behind Eve on Houndoom's back. ~This doesn't seem right, though. It's too strange.~

Very uncharacteristically, Eve ignored Basil. She quickly began returning all of Hope's pokémon except Houndoom to their pokéballs, and she even returned all of her pokémon, aside from Basil. Then, finally, she answered the pikachu. "I know it's strange, Basil. But I really feel like I have to go. Houndoom, please, would you take me there? Quickly? I have to see why I'm being called there."

The houndoom breathed out a relenting cloud of smoke. ~Very well. I suppose I cannot question the whims of Fate, if that's really what is calling you. If you want speed, then you're riding the right pokémon. Hold onto my horns if you don't want to fall!~ And without any further warning, the dark hound and her two passengers became little more than a blur as they cut through the fields, heading straight towards the mysterious source of Fate's call.

* * *

Aw, Hope's past! Now there's an interesting (and very depressing) topic... If you'd like to read her backstory in more detail (the whole orphan story that was summarized by marowak in this chapter), it's actually a main plot point of my short fanfic "Towering Retribution." She's only eight or something in that fanfic, and I must admit, she's not all that different then from how she is in this story. Also, if you are interested in "Towering Retribution," I'd like to point out that it's actually the sequel to the short story "Spirits of the Past", though you really don't have to read the first to enjoy the second. In fact, the second is written in quite a bit better fashion than the first, though the plot is (in my opinion) not quite as good. And if you do end up reading those, I'll say one more thing... There's one more OC from those stories who's going to make an appearance in this fanfic. Like with Hope, it's not like you'll be missing out if you haven't read the short stories; they're just there for those who like the characters enough to read them.

And here's a big thanks to the person who gave me the character idea for Brian... So thanks! (You know who you are!) Thanks to the brief history concept you gave me for the character, my plot hole was fixed. And you have no idea how nice it is not to be standing at the edge of a gaping plot hole that just sits there and waits for you to fall into it and have all logic of your fanfic fall to pieces. So really, thanks so much for coming up with a character!

So, um, let's see... I've got quite a few people reading this story now (or so the story traffic page seems to suggest), but only one consistent reviewer... Surely a couple of you out there have SOMETHING to say... But whatever. As I've said before, I write this because I really like to, not necessarily for the reviews. Though I do really appreciate reviews.

Next chapter is the really big one... Like, everything up to this point has pretty much led up to what is revealed in the next chapter... So I hope you look forward to it!


	17. Legends

**Chapter Seventeen: Legends**

As Eve, Basil, and Houndoom finally broke out from the residential neighborhoods of the city and onto the expansive prairie-like grounds of Burned Tower, they began to see that Eve's compulsion to come to the tower was more than a mere whim.

Though Burned Tower was technically the capital of the Argentum religion, one of the two most popular religions of Johto, the ruined structure was normally left alone. As famous as it was, it had never even been much of a tourist destination. The burned and unstable shell of the building had never been the most attractive or the safest of locations.

That was why the crowd of over five hundred people that Eve, Basil, and Houndoom now saw was so out of place. Even Eve knew that it wasn't a popular destination for either tourists or religious fanatics. There was no possible way that all these people had come just to see the charred scar of Ecruteak. _And if they aren't looking at the building… Then that means something else must be there. Something interesting enough to draw such a huge crowd. _

As she looked more closely, Eve found the object of their attention. Surrounding Burned Tower was what appeared to be a giant crystal casing in the shape of some sort of prism; it was so clear that Eve had missed it at first. Eve couldn't begin to comprehend what it could possibly be: an illusion, a pokémon's attack, a dream… She even began to question her own sanity. It simply didn't make sense. Something so large and so odd couldn't just appear from nowhere.

~So what do we do now?~ Houndoom asked as her run brought them nearer and nearer to the back of the crowd. ~Do you want me to get through the crowd so we can see that strange barrier?~

Basil sparked in agitation. ~Something about this is wrong! I don't trust this! Eve, let's just turn around, okay? You're scaring me. We have no reason to be here. Let's just head back to the pokémon center, please.~

Eve shook her head. "I'm sorry, Basil, but I can't. Not now. Not that I'm so close. The pull is even stronger now; there's no way I could possibly resist. So Houndoom, full speed ahead; find a gap in the crowd if you can, or push your way through if you can avoid hurting someone. But don't stop once you get through; continue right into the crystal."

~Are you insane, Eve?~ Basil asked, sparking enough that Eve could feel the sting of the electricity against her face. ~We'll kill ourselves if we slam into that barrier! Clear though it might be, it's obviously solid!~

"It'll be fine. I know it will. We'll get through, easily, with no harm. Just trust me."

Houndoom growled with a tone of amused determination. ~If you say so, then I'll believe you. Here we go!~ She found a small gap in the rear of the crowd and took it, quickly and gracefully weaving her tall but slim body through the throng. They soon broke out of the front of the crowd, leaving some twenty meters to dash between where the crowd was being held back and the wall of the crystal barrier. In the few brief moments before they reached the barrier, Eve caught a glimpse of several people ordering their pokémon to attack the crystal. Mark was among them; though he had been concentrating on the wall, he managed to sense Eve in the seconds before her apparent impact with the glassy cage.

His cloudy, sightless eyes locked with Eve's vivid green eyes for the briefest of moments. He tried to shout out a warning, to tell her to stop; that much was apparent, even though he was too far away to be heard well. But in another moment, the noise of the crowd was gone, and Eve's sight of Mark and everyone else was impeded by what seemed to be a thick, semi-transparent wall of crystal.

Houndoom came to a stunned halt, herself somehow disbelieving that she had been able to run through what the pokémon not a hundred meters away couldn't break through with their strongest attacks. Basil stopped his agitated sparking in a similar state of wonder. But Eve, for her part, was dogged in her pursuit of whatever was pulling her towards the tower. She quickly slid off of Houndoom's back and returned her to her pokéball without even asking permission.

"Basil, you can stay out, but I think only you and I can be around, for the moment being," Eve said as she began to limp towards the entrance of the tower. "Whatever I'm here for, it's certainly not a public meeting. Not if security is so high, with that barrier."

~Eve, listen to reason!~ Basil said as he jumped off her back to walk beside her. He was more upset than Eve had ever seen him, and yet her mind could only think of what was ahead of her. ~This could be suicide! If you won't listen to me, then at least turn around and listen to Mark! I can see that he's shouting at you from the other side of the crystal!~

Turning around briefly, Eve caught sight of the out-of-breath Mark, who had his hands cupped around his mouth as he apparently shouted out Eve's name. The wall cancelled out all sound, though, except for a large rustling noise from within the tower itself. She didn't think twice about continuing onward, though, even if turning around to explain to Mark what she was going to do would only take a few second.

_I have to keep going forward. I must keep going forward. I _cannot_ turn around. Literally._

When Eve didn't respond to Basil, his ears drooped and his demeanor changed entirely. He stopped his persistent discouragement of what Eve was attempting. Instead, he plodded along on all fours beside her, resigned that he could not stop Eve from walking into what could be the biggest mistake of her life.

And so she walked on until, finally, the mysterious urge disappeared suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving Eve standing just inside the entrance of Burned Tower.

Both Eve and Basil were absolutely stunned by what they saw there, so much so that they literally stood for nearly a minute in complete silence. The cause of their awe was not their surroundings, which admittedly were impressive enough; blackened walls rose on either side of them, seemingly so fragile as to be blown over by a strong gust of wind. The floor couldn't properly be called a floor; it only existed along the edges of the building's walls, and the floorboards that were there seemed not sturdy in the least. It was a miracle that Eve hadn't been sent tumbling to the basement the moment she had stepped through the doorway.

Yet if she had fallen, she couldn't help but think that it might have been a good thing, for it was something in the basement that had become the focus of her undivided attention. Or, rather, not a some_thing_, but three some_ones_. For there, standing among the rubble as if it were the most natural thing ever, were three incredibly majestic pokémon, the likes of which Eve had never before seen.

The first, some fifteen feet below her, was a massive pokémon with brown, mane-like fur covering much of his body. From his back, two lines of spiky material jutted out to the side, and between them was a constantly moving cloud that looked almost to be a mix of smoke and fur. Rings of some sort encircled his legs, and his face was ornamented with red, gold, and grey, giving it an almost masklike appearance. He paced restlessly about, though his piercing amber eyes seemed to be just as enthralled by the sight of Eve as she was by the sight of him.

The second was sitting tensely, and like the first, he kept his eyes trained on Eve. He was a bright yellow pokémon with black stripes, a jagged tail ending in a sunburst of spiked fur, and a mask not dissimilar to that of the brown pokémon. He also had a strange sort of fur on his back, if indeed it was fur; this hair, however, more closely resembled a furious storm cloud, gorged with water so that it was so close to bursting that its color was a sort of violet.

The third stood off a ways from the other two. Her agitation, though obviously present to Eve's eyes, did not show itself as it did in the tenseness of the yellow pokémon or in the pacing of the brown pokémon. She was inherently much too graceful too allow for such rigidity. Her blue body was lithe and dotted with white diamonds; her tails of white ribbon blew forwards toward the front of her body, as if blown by some non-existent wind; her back was covered by wispy fur, which moved sometimes with the airiness of the wind, and at other times with the joyful power of a river. A crystal-like structure jutted from her forehead backward, its clear-cut edges a beautiful contrast to the fluidity of the rest of her body; as Eve looked at it, it reminded her very much of a crown on the head of a queen.

This blue pokémon's agitation showed itself in the somber look in her eyes, the downcast posture of her body, and the ever so soft sigh-like moans that seemed to emanate from every fiber of her being. Where the other two pokémon had energy, she held sadness; where the other two were expectant, she looked lost in thoughts of the past.

_I know these pokémon,_ Eve thought to herself, in awe. _Even if I've heard of them only in myths, and seen only rough artistic interpretations of their true magnificence, I still recognize them._

After several minutes of staring, the brown pokémon finally spoke up. The excited growl that came from his throat sounded to Eve like the rumbling of an earthquake. ~Well, come on then. We've waited long enough for this that you don't need to stand up there like a piece of the scenery. Suicune, would you mind helping her down?~

The blue pokémon perked up slightly, and her ribbon-tails rustled as if the wind had suddenly gusted. Immediately, Eve felt herself blown off the edge of the flooring by a strong gust of wind; she would have screamed were it not for the gentle but firm caress of an accompanying gust that lowered both she and Basil to the floor of the basement. Though unhurt, Eve collapsed to her knees; she couldn't quite believe what was happening.

"But you… You three are…"

~Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, at your service,~ the yellow pokémon said. ~We've waited 150 years for you or someone like you to feel the call of the tower.~

Despite Eve's initial shock, this mention of years surprised her into speech yet again. "150 years, did you say? Does that mean you had something to do with Yellow? Or maybe her name wasn't Yellow, but I know there was someone who lived that long ago who could communicate with pokémon like me."

Suicune visibly started at the mention of the name, though Eve was the only one who noticed; both Raikou and Entei were too caught up in the moment to preoccupy themselves with Suicune's mood. ~Whoever she was, we didn't know her. We need to talk to you about what we do know. We've been waiting for so long for–~

~Brother, may I explain?~ Entei suddenly interrupted, switching his weight impatiently from one side of his body to the other. ~You know how much I have longed for this.~ Raikou lowered his head to his brother, acquiescing to the request; Entei, without any further hesitation, launched into a passionate speech. ~Many years ago, we three were regular pokémon. You may have heard the story, in fact. We were killed in the fire that burned down this tower, yet were revived by Ho-oh. He made us greater than what we had been. Much, much greater. He gave us our lives back and gave us power that we had never dreamt of. But in exchange, we inherited part of his duty in the world, which we faithfully follow with every fiber of our existence. We don't know much; Ho-oh has never even spoken to us about what he did for us or what he turned us into. But we inherited an instinct with our new forms, and this is how we know what Ho-oh wants us to do.~

Still on her knees, Eve tried to take this all in. But it was all too much of a shock; her thoughts seemed to go only half the speed they needed too, so flooded were they with half-recollections and the new information they were receiving. _So these are definitely the sort of Great Ones that Celebi was talking about. They use names, and they have such power that I can feel it emanating from them. Surely they have some connection to the Change that happened 150 years ago, which the slowpoke thought had to do with me, and which I think has to do with Yellow… And Suicune seemed to react to the name, even if the other two didn't. _

Entei was pausing in his speech for Eve to respond, but the relatively miniscule human girl was still too lost in her thoughts. _I'm actually talking to legends… Suicune and Raikou and Entei! Everyone in Johto knows their story! Heck, they're deities to the followers of the Aurum religion! How is all this happening!_

Finally, Raikou spoke up. ~Entei, I think we need to slow down a bit. She seems a bit overwhelmed.~ Then, turning back to Eve and coming close enough that he was barely a foot away, he said, ~Little Not-Human, what is your name, if I may ask?~

Eve finally recovered her wits, though she was rather confused about how she had been addressed. "I-I'm Eve. But, uh, what do you mean by not human? And why am I even here?"

~You are here because Fate has called us all together here,~ Entei said, half pushing Raikou aside. ~And you are Not-Human because, quite simply, you are not a human. Can't you tell? Humans are the vilest of creatures. Haven't you seen the pain they cause everyone else? Have you ever once truly felt normal among them? Surely other pokémon see you as I see you now: as the spirit of a pokémon in a human shape. Even if every normal sense belonging to me didn't scream at me that you are more pokémon than human, our instincts as legends tell us this. I couldn't tell you why, but it is certain. Your soul is that of a pokémon.~

"But… but…" _So much of it makes sense, while making no sense at all! I know I'm different, but… A pokémon? And humans do cause pain, but–_

Her thoughts were interrupted as Entei continued, ~But nothing! In your heart, you know it is true. And that is why we all have gathered here. Our instincts don't tell us much, but we know that Ho-oh is an even greater being than even the humans that worship him suspect. He represents… Oh, how do I express it! Raikou, can you explain?~

~He more than represents,~ Raikou said, his growl sounding like a rumble of thunder. ~He _is_ power, in a more significant way than in just the word that you humans would use. Power itself – and thus Ho-oh – is more than just something that humans lust after, and something that pokémon seem to have abundantly. What that something is, even we can't say. Ho-oh can tell you, if you meet him. All that our instincts are able to tell us is that he and the very essence of power are intertwined.~

This explanation finished, Entei continued, ~We know Ho-oh carries with him a force that not even he can use; somehow, it is related with power as well. Though he cannot use it, it is a force that you can obtain, as a Not-Human. Ho-oh's instinct within us drives us to help you get that force, but we wish to help for more than just that. With this strength that Ho-oh could give you, and with other strengths that we sense are similarly guarded, you would have power unlike anything that anyone has ever seen. I know not how, but somehow, you would be able to completely wipe the face of the earth clean of humans! You could stop all the evil they create, and make life for pokémon as it was meant to be!~

By this point, Eve was hopelessly lost trying to figure out what was going on. But this last part, at least, she understood. And she didn't like it. "But I've grown up among humans! They might be bad, but surely they don't deserve extermination!"

~Yet that would return the world to how it is meant to be!~ Entei said, advancing menacingly. ~Do you even realize that, before humans created the pokéball, we pokémon lived as we should? None of us lived in that time, but even you humans know that it existed! That is how the world began, and that is how it is meant to be! Are you completely blind to how much sense that makes!~

Eve was stopped cold, perhaps because she knew this to be absolutely true. Hadn't the pokémon who embodies time itself told her as much? Told her that before the pokéball had been invented, pokémon had _always _been the ones in control of the earth?

Basil, who had been silent up to this point, jumped in front of Eve suddenly and sparked in anger. ~Don't try to confuse Eve like that! She knows as well as you and I do that a pokémon's rage can be just as dangerous as a human's cunning!~

The sight – the smallest of pikachu standing up to one of the most formidable pokémon in legend – would have been humorous if not for the seriousness that pervaded the argument. Entei barked in response, ~What do you know? True, I will not deny that pokémon will kill one another in anger; but what is wrong with that? That is the way we are made. We don't worry about death for a reason; it's how the world must work. It's what's supposed to happen. But even in the truest of angers, do we ever plot and scheme, as humans do? Do we ever intend ill against one of our fellows? Do we hurt others out of greed or resentment? No! That is why your trainer has the honor and the destiny to do what is right, and return things to how they should be! As a pokémon yourself, you should see the sense in it!~

_This goes against everything I know!_ Eve thought, squeezing her eyes shut for a few moments, as if to block out everything that Entei was saying. _But he's a legendary pokémon. He can sense the ways of the world better than I can. And what he says makes sense! I've been raised as a human to detest death, but pokémon rarely even think on the matter. And pokémon never mean to hurt something else; they only let their emotions get carried away, or they attack as a resort. Humans, on the other hand…_ For a moment, Eve imagined the tip of a knife against her throat and saw the gang of men, encircling her in a dark alley where no one would have cared if she'd been killed. Her eyes jerked open as she tried to turn her thoughts away from that black memory, but she was already trembling as she fell from her knees into a sitting position. _This is all just too much!_

A clear bark unlike the deep rumbling growls of the Entei and Raikou suddenly filled the air. ~That is enough, Entei!~ Suicune said, speaking up for the first time as she moved herself defensively between Hope and the overbearing fire-type. ~And Raikou, I am ashamed that I must be the one to speak up against this! I thought you to be more honorable than this. Both of you know just as well as I do that Fate does not call her to destroy humanity!~ Turning slightly to Eve – though still keeping an eye on her now enraged brother, Entei – she continued. ~It is true that you may have that power, or something along those lines. What it is exactly is very foggy to us. Perhaps you won't even have a choice in the matter, should you obtain the power that we speak of; perhaps the power will control you. But we sense that you might also have the power to destroy all pokémon, or to destroy everything altogether.~

~Suicune, you know what humans do to pokémon!~ Entei growled, the cloud of smoke-fur on his back billowing out as he became ever more agitated. ~You know how the world was in the beginning! How can it be that the elimination of humans is not destiny? Everything points to the fact that pokémon cannot truly live so long as humanity oppresses them! What do you know that makes you so sure of the contrary!~

~I know because I have encountered one of the other strengths that rival Ho-oh's, and it denies every presumption you have just made!~ Suicune said, her own emotions getting the better of her. Entei and Raikou both tensed in a shocked manner; apparently, this was news to them. More quietly, Suicune added, ~I have never told you before now, because I knew that you would not listen. But Eve deserves to know this. She deserves to know that, no matter what you would lead her to believe, the sole burden for this possibility of Fate does not lie solely on her shoulders. And she needs to know what could happen if she does indeed take up the challenge and seek out the Great Powers, such as the one that Ho-oh has.~

Entei recovered his wits and suddenly lunged at Suicune, bristling with rage. ~You knew such a thing and didn't tell us!~

Raikou, faster than his brother, also made a move. But not at Suicune. Rather, he used his speed to slam his shoulder into his brother's side, sending Entei to the ground before he could reach his target. ~Entei! Be calm! If we start a battle here, then this may all end before it even begins! The Not-Human would not survive a clash between the two of you! Let us listen to what Suicune has to say, at the very least.~

Entei growled with displeasure as he pushed himself up from the ground, but he didn't argue. Instead, both his eyes and the eyes of Raikou bored into Suicune expectantly. Seeing that there was no turning back now, Suicune stepped back slightly so that she could look at everyone in the charred basement. Then she began:

~Eve, as you may know, the legend of us three among you humans is that a lightning bolt struck this tower, a fire was started, and then a rain put out the fire; when Ho-oh revived us, we were supposedly reincarnated in the image of these three events. While it is true that my brothers and I were all there and all died in the lightning and fire, there is so much more to it than they or any human knows. You see, both of my brothers were there due to coincidence. Raikou died as a wild jolteon, wounded so grievously in a previous battle with a human that he had sought refuge in this tower for safety. Entei was a simple flareon, under the command of a cruel trainer who wished for a rematch against my trainer and myself. I, at the time, was a vaporeon. Brothers, do you agree with the statements I make so far?~

Raikou, the only one of the brothers calm enough to speak, said, ~We know that the things you say our true. Please continue.~

Suicune paused momentarily, as if collecting her thoughts. Then she turned and looked at Eve directly. ~My trainer and I, on the other hand, were there for a greater purpose. We had been requested to come by someone you have already mentioned: a young, kind girl named Yellow. She was a Not-Human, like you. As such, her destiny had the same potential as yours does now. She knew much more than even the instincts that instruct my brothers and I. She had already met with Ho-oh, but he had denied her the strength she was destined for. She told my trainer that Ho-oh thought her too sympathetic to the human race to be deserving of that sort of strength.~

~You defend humans even when you know that Ho-oh hates them? When you know that it is not just my bias, but Ho-oh's will as well!~ Entei suddenly burst out, unable to continue holding in his anger. ~He is our _father!_ We were born again thanks to him! You've even known exactly what he wants – you've talked to someone who had actually talked to him – and you still are a traitor!~

~Be calm, brother. Please,~ Suicune said pleadingly. ~You have no idea how much that fact pains me. But there are other truths you must know.~ Entei didn't respond, so she continued, ~In order for Yellow to summon Lugia to herself, she needed a human who represented the quality that Lugia embodies; you will need to find a similar human if you do indeed try to gather your potential, for both Lugia and Ho-oh require this much. The strength that Lugia embodied was unity. And so, with that in mind, Yellow brought my trainer with her to this tower to try to call Lugia down. My trainer wasn't a human any better or worst than the rest of them, and yet… I loved him in a way that is difficult to express.~ Her voice was laden with sadness, as if the longing for him was fresh in her heart. ~Truly, we knew each other better than any pokémon and human have ever known each other. I knew his thoughts, and he knew mine. This is why Yellow brought us to this tower, then called Brass Tower. She felt that if anyone could summon that pokémon of unity, my trainer with his bond with me would be that person. Unfortunately, I know not if that was true.

~We made it to the top of the tower easily enough, but as soon as we reached the peak, everything was thrown into confusion. I saw two great shapes in the sky above our heads swoop down. The first I still do not know the identity of; all I know is that he commanded thunder and lightning with even greater strength and precision than my brother, Raikou. The second is the one that pains my heart the most, though; for that one was Ho-oh.~

~YOU LIE!~ Entei leaped forward once again, and this time, even Raikou didn't stop him; though Raikou had the self-control to hold himself back, he too could hardly believe the slander that spouted from Suicune's mouth. Eve and Basil barely managed to scramble out of the way as the two titans clashed, biting and clawing as if their lives depended on it.

Terrified, Eve ran over to the far side of the basement and looked for an exit, but found none; the ground was over twenty feet above her head, and no stairways remained to help her up.

~Brother, stop this madness!~ Suicune said as she fought to fend off Entei, their battle taking up nearly half of the already enormous basement floor. ~If it were not true, I would not say it! You have no idea how much it torments my heart! I can never stop detesting Ho-oh for killing Yellow and the human who was nearest to me, and yet I can never cease my gratitude for what he has turned me into! It has continually shattered my heart for the 150 years since our resurrection!~

Raikou finally allowed his reason to govern his emotions, and he ran over and pinned his brother down. ~Entei, cease! You will harm the Not-Human if you continue. If what Suicune says is true, then Ho-oh only allowed us to die so that he could bestow us with what we have now. If it was Ho-oh's own action, then speaking of it is not blasphemy.~

Entei stopped struggling under Raikou's weight, but Raikou didn't leave his position as he asked Suicune, ~Is there anything else you needed to say?~

Suicune lowered her head sadly, ignoring the gaping bite marks that allowed blood to run down her body, staining her pure fur before mixing with the ashes of the ground. ~No. My story is done. But Eve, remember what I said. You are not the first one to have this possibility in her future. Yellow had it before you, and others before her had it as well. I believe that some simply had no idea of their potential; others wished not to take on the task; still others may have tried, but reached the same fate as Yellow. I say this only to show that you need not seek after the power at all. But if you do… Know that Ho-oh's view of the world is not the only one the Great Ones have. While I still cannot say if the pokémon-human unity was what would have summoned Lugia… At the very least, I retain the hope in my heart that it would have worked, had we not been interrupted.~

~Don't taint her mind with uncertainties!~ Entei said, still pinned by Raikou. ~Logic leads to the truth! If pokémon ruled in the beginning, then that is how things are meant to be! And what of how humans control pokémon? They–~

~Brother, hold your tongue for a moment!~ Raikou interrupted. ~Perhaps later would be a better time for that information. Let us convince the Not-Human of our beliefs then. But now, we could use Suicune's information to our advantage. The Not-Human seems to sympathize with Lugia's stance on matters; if that is the case, why don't we let her seek out Lugia first, before we teach her the error of her ways? That way we will have guaranteed her the strengths of both Lugia and Ho-oh.~

Entei got up as Raikou finally released the fire-type from his hold. ~Agreed,~ he said. ~In that case, should we three seek out the three birds? Never before have they told us their master, but having heard Suicune's tale, it seems a fair guess to say that they serve this pokémon called Lugia.~ Suicune seemed rather unsettled by their plotting, but she said nothing to interrupt.

~That does seem the logical conclusion,~ Raikou said. ~It should be worth trying. But before we do…~ He searched the room until his eyes locked on Eve, who was half hidden behind some fallen rafters. As if she hadn't already been both scared and overawed by being in the presence of three such mythical beings, they'd had to go on to tell her that she could have the power to commit mass genocide. And then they had to have a fight amongst themselves. In short, Eve was frightened half out of her wits; only Basil's presence had allowed her to keep herself from fainting or going into utter panic or doing something else similar.

Entei followed his brother's eyes. ~Yes, you're right. We have to tie up things here. And we should give this Not-Human some protection. After all, she is the first to show up in 150 years. If she's killed by some accident, then who knows how long we'll have to wait for another?~

~I'm glad you think so, too,~ Raikou said as he paced over to the side of the room where Eve was sitting. Entei followed close behind him, and Suicune came over while keeping her distance from the other two. Upon reaching Eve, Raikou said to her, ~Is that little pikachu your only friend, Eve?~

Eve clenched her hands, still partly fearful of the three pokémon that stood before her, even if they meant her no immediate harm. "Um, uh, no," she said after some hesitation. "I have, um, three others who are traveling with me. They're in their pokéballs right now."

~Call them out, then,~ Raikou commanded.

Eve did so. Hannah, Aiden, and Blight were all very much confused by the scene that they entered into; not only were they facing the largest pokémon they had ever seen, but they couldn't tell immediately if they were to battle (as they judged from Eve's level of fear) or just stand there (as the demeanor of the legends seemed to suggest). Uncertainly, the three lined up next to Basil, who was standing defensively between Eve and the three much larger pokémon.

Raikou looked up and down the little line. ~The grass type isn't bad. The growlithe is only marginally worse. The ghost seems weak, but his kind can always be useful in tight situations. And the pikachu is pathetically weak. Do you have any idea what we might do to help, brother?~

All of Eve's pokémon began to protest at the hasty judgements, but Entei ignored them and said, ~Actually, I have thought of something. Growlithe! Step forward.~

Aiden looked back at Eve, who gave a small nod of encouragement; so he stepped forward, his red fur bristling.

~Growlithe, did you know that your evolution, arcanine, is known as the legendary pokémon?~ Entei said. ~It is a pokémon of great strength and speed, and in the times when they were more numerous, they served as liaisons between the Great Ones and regular pokémon. If you had the opportunity to gain that strength to better protect Eve, would you take it?~

~Without a doubt!~ Aiden said, not hesitating for a moment. ~I'd do anything to protect Eve!~

Entei nodded. ~As I thought; your kind have always been faithful to those they care for. In that case… Eve, I need you to step forward. I believe I can use your power to help your friend here to evolve.~

"Huh? What power?" Eve said, more puzzled than ever and still not trusting herself to stand. "I thought I only got power when it was given to me by Ho-oh or Lugia or some other pokémon."

~Those are the true powers that you seek, yes,~ Entei said, ~But as the Not-Human, you do have some unique abilities. The fact that you can speak with us demonstrates one; but if my instinct is helping me to judge correctly, then you also have an ability to help pokémon evolve, do you not?~

Eve shook her head vigorously, as if protesting the idea of letting anything new weighing on her mind. "No, I don't think so…"

Raikou stepped forward slightly. ~Are you sure? I sense the same thing that Entei does. Think carefully about it… How many pokémon have you seen evolve?~

"Oh, um, well…" Eve said. "I guess there was Hannah and Houndoom just a few weeks ago… But that was just a coincidence! They were both strong enough to evolve, and they were under a lot of pressure! And before that… I guess Basil evolved. And before that… Well…" But as she thought about it, she realized just how many evolutions she had seen. Back in the forest, quite a few of her close friends had managed to evolve; so many, in fact, that Wartortle had even said that Eve had blessed the forest with her presence. And aside from Basil, all of the numerous evolutions she had witnessed had taken place while or just after Eve had touched the pokémon in question. Until now, it had seemed coincidence. Even the highly, highly unlikely coincidence of Hannah's and Houndoom's evolutions had been no more than that: a strange twist of fate. But when two legends posed the question…

Entei saw the realization slowly dawning on her face. "If you understand your power now, then come forward and put one hand on Growlithe and the other hand on my brow. The power of the fire stone that evolved me into a flareon is magnified a thousand times in my current form. Alone, I cannot control it. But with you as a channel, it should be an easy matter for your friend to evolve. So come.~

Eve didn't dare disobey. Shakily, she got to her feet; between the ashes that covered her body and the pale look of her frightened face, she looked more like a dead person recalled to life than a girl with any sort of destiny. Tentatively, she placed one of her grimy hands on Aiden's forehead, and the other on Entei's mask-like face. Eve immediately felt a fiery energy charge through her veins and into Aiden; though it didn't hurt, she immediately pulled both hands away in shock.

If she had intended to stop the transformation by pulling away, however, it was too late. Aiden glowed red as he grew… and grew… and grew. By the time he stopped glowing and growing, Eve was completely speechless. Before her stood a pokémon that rivaled Raikou, Entei, and Suicune in both size and majesty. Admittedly, the regal shine of his fur and the naturally proud bearing with which he carried himself were of a more earthly dignity than the appearances of the three legends; yet this comparison in no way diminished the magnificence of the newly-evolved arcanine.

Even Aiden himself was amazed by his new appearance; as he looked at himself, his understandable pride was mixed with an equal measure of astonishment. Entei paid no heed to either of them. Instead, he said, ~Now that you are an arcanine, you are tied to Great Ones such as us. You will naturally feel drawn to us. And if we call you upon you, you will hear no matter where you are. That is my gift. Now Raikou, what shall you do?~

~I think I shall do much the same thing,~ Raikou said. ~Pikachu, you have guarded your trainer bravely throughout this. Would you like to evolve as well?~

Basil looked uncertainly from Raikou to Eve. ~I definitely want to get stronger to help Eve… I'm much too weak right now. But I've just barely gotten used to being a pikachu. I'm not even sure if I'd want to evolve any further.~

Raikou pawed the ground, his equivalent of a scowl. ~I find it hard to believe that you would deny yourself power when you could obtain it so easily… But no matter. If you are simply afraid of evolving, I think I can still do something. Eve, do the same thing as you did with Entei and the growlithe; but Pikachu, as she does it, focus your energy on avoiding evolution. So long as you do that, you should be fine. There is the chance you won't be able to avoid it, though. Do you want to risk it?~

After a moment's hesitation, Basil sparked his agreement with the idea. ~If it still happens, then I suppose I'll just have to live with it. Let's try it.~

"Basil, are you sure?" Eve asked.

~Positive.~

Lacking the energy to press the matter, Eve wearily walked over to Basil, then put her hands on him and Raikou. Like with Aiden, Basil glowed; but unlike Aiden, Basil visibly struggled against it, causing the light to dim until Basil was his regular pikachu self again. Or perhaps not quite his regular self – on his forehead where Eve had touched was now a small sunburst marking, exactly the same purple color as the cloud-fur that was constantly in motion on Raikou's back.

Raikou saw the mark as well. ~At least you didn't evolve. I suppose you can't completely hide it when so much power is gained. But know this; if ever the time comes when more power is needed and you wish to evolve, then just use Eve's power. Merely a touch by her while you are focusing should allow the power to bubble over and change your form.~

Basil nodded as sparks flew from his body. He was having troubles containing all the new energy that now flowed through him.

Raikou stepped back, and everyone looked expectantly at Suicune as she walked forward to stand where he had been. ~I can give you no power as the other two have,~ Suicune began, her manner soft. ~But call my name to the air – even so much as a whisper, in even the most cloistered place – and the wind shall carry your call to me, and I shall come as quickly as the North Wind itself. You may speak my name and not worry about me hearing, though; it is only when you call out to me, and desire for me to hear, that I shall catch the word. This is the only thing I can give you, other than my blessing. And remember; though my brothers and I go out in search of a way to contact Lugia, that does not mean you must take up this task. Yellow was not unlike you; I should hate to see the same thing happen.~

Entei growled slightly at Suicune. ~Suicune's words do hold true; it is your choice… Still, we highly encourage you to think about what we have said and to ponder the good you might do with the power you could receive. And if you decide that the search for strength is the right path, then you must look for the humans with whose help you can summon Ho-oh and Lugia. One who represents power; the other, unity. We shall take care of the rest. Raikou, is there anything else that needs to be said?~

~No,~ Raikou said. ~Young Not-Human, I realize this is overwhelming, but I will emphasize what my brother said: think about it. I believe you will make the right decision, given time. But for now… We shall take our leave. Suicune will release the crystal barrier, and we shall depart immediately. As soon as you're ready to go, the arcanine should have more than enough strength to jump out of this hole and up to some stable part of the first floor. So farewell, until we meet again. And remember… just think about it.~

Without another word, the three legends jumped up to the first floor. Suicune presumably let the barrier disappear, for the sound of a crowd gasping and screaming suddenly erupted as the legends escaped from the ruins.

Eve watched dimly as several people very promptly arrived at the first floor and shouted down at her, Mark among them. But even when Mark teleported down and frantically asked if she was all right, Eve's exhausted mind was only thinking about the final words of Entei and Raikou.

_So they want me to think about things, huh? Well, I don't think that will be a problem. It'll be hard to forget about it for a long, long time._

_

* * *

_

I love this chapter. A lot. Mainly because I got to describe Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, who in my mind are three of the most beautiful creatures ever created. ^_^ Of course, there's plenty of other reasons why I like this chapter: Basil stops being pathetically weak, Aiden evolves into a friggin' Arcanine (which is another extremely awesome pokémon), and we finally get to the main plot of the story! (lol, took me long enough, I suppose.)

Funny thing... Originally, I wanted Raikou to be the pokémon that was nicest to Eve. You know, just to switch things up a bit, since Suicune gets a lot of face-time in fanfics and the like. But suicune ended up working better, so whatever. On another note, Basil is not going to be like Ash's pikachu in the anime with the whole not-evolving thing. While I won't guarantee evolution, I just want to point out that Basil really is still adjusting to being a pikachu, and so he just wants to give things a little while.

Also, the crystal barrier does have precedence. It's a major defense method of Suicune in the Crystal Arc of the manga. And as for Lugia and Ho-oh representing unity and power respectively... I'm not entirely sure how much that can be related to canon. The only Johto game I've played is SoulSilver, you see, and I remember the Kimono sisters talking about Lugia being summoned by a person who can bring unity to pokemon and people; and I remember Morty saying something about how only a powerful trainer can meet Ho-oh, which is why Morty trains so much. So that's the basis behind that...

And did everything in this chapter make sense? You know, everything that the trio said? Because I keep on feeling like my writing style is getting more and more incoherent, and this feeling is doubled in chapters like this where Eve is thrown into a state of shock (since the third person point of view I write in sort of depends on how Eve is seeing things, if that makes sense). And it probably doesn't help that I naturally fell into a sort of archaic dialogue whenever the legends were talking. And it also probably doesn't help that what Eve is supposed to do is _supposed_ to be somewhat vague at this point, since not even Raikou, Entei, and Suicune know the real details of it. So... yeah. If anyone feels like reviewing for once, then it'd be nice to know if everything made sense.

Oh, and one more thing... With this chapter up, the fanfic is finally over 100,000 words! I always love hitting the 100,000 word mark (even if I've only done it once before, with a Shugo Chara fanfic...)

Thanks for reading!


	18. Adjusting

**Chapter Eighteen: Adjusting**

In the days and weeks that followed the Burned Tower incident, Eve's life became so busy that the sleepless nights and campaign-filled days of Goldenrod seemed like a pleasant dream.

The chaos started that night. Almost as soon as Eve was out of the Burned Tower, she was an instant celebrity. Not only had she _met_ with the deities of the Aurum religion in the capital of the Argentum religion; she had actually _survived_ the encounter. The crowd had been so amazed to see Eve that Mark had been forced to teleport the dazed girl away before she got hurt in the throng.

But word spread quickly. Even when they had made it away from the tower itself, people still knew what she had done and swarmed like a honeycomb of combee. Eventually, Mark decided to take Eve to his office in the National Legislature; even though it was centrally located within the city of Ecruteak, the security was strict enough that no one would be able to get to Eve without prior permission to enter the politician's wing of the building.

After maybe an hour sitting around in that office, the peace and quiet allowed Eve to regain her wits to some extent. And the first thing that she wanted to do – or, rather, needed to do – was tell someone about what had happened. She and Basil were the only ones who knew everything; there was no way that one girl and one pikachu could possibly bear the weight of all that knowledge by themselves.

She used Tim's teleport to go to somewhere more or less deserted before doing anything, so that she could talk to all of her pokémon at once and tell them everything that had happened. Almost everything, at least. The only thing she didn't let them know that she had the ability to destroy life as they knew it. As much as Eve loved and trusted her friends, she just couldn't bring herself to say something so horrible. Especially when her mind was still denying even the possibility that it could happen.

When that was finished, she convinced Mark to teleport her into Hope's hospital room so that Eve could tell both of them what had happened. She was even slightly less truthful in this relation of events. The first thing she omitted was the whole destroying life thing; the second thing she couldn't bring herself to say was that she might not be human in some sense of the word. While she doubted Hope would care, it somehow scared Eve to think about how Mark might react to the news. The possibility of him going out with her was still hanging unmentioned in the air, and Eve didn't want that chance to go away before she could really consider it.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next day, the shine of the limelight had grown exponentially. Up until her run-in with the legends in the tower, Eve had been little more than a semi-familiar name in the headlines of Johto news. Now, she was quite literally an international celebrity. The national politicians who lived in Ecruteak now put in an effort to arrange a meeting with her, which was rather convenient for both Mark and Eve; even with everything happening so quickly, both agreed that they could capitalize on the fame by translating popularity into national law.

But surprisingly enough, the first two people that Eve was meeting with weren't politicians at all. Yet they were probably just as influential in public policy.

"So the heads of the Argentum and Aurum religions are meeting us here for lunch, right? What're they're names again?" Eve asked as she sat down at the table Mark had reserved.

Patiently, Mark repeated, "Their names don't really matter. Just call the Argentum lady 'High Priestess' and the Aurum guy 'High Priest.' I was only telling you their names as a formality, just in case you were curious." This was about the third time in five minutes of conversation that Mark had found it necessary to repeat himself on this point; Eve simply couldn't keep her mind focused on what he was saying. "You know, maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe you should take it easy for a little while longer. You don't seem quite yourself today."

_If only I knew what being 'myself' meant… Pokémon or human? Should I be glad if I really am a pokémon, like Entei said? And surely he must be right; even Suicune didn't object, and she seemed to be on my side as much as she could be. And every pokémon I've met has said more or less the same thing… But I still can't believe it._ So caught up was Eve in her thoughts that she didn't remember to respond to Mark's statement; this further convinced him that they were rushing into politics before Eve had fully recovered from the previous day's encounter with the Legendary Beasts.

"All right, that settles things. I'm going to call both of them right now before either shows up, give them our sincere apologies, and tell them that you aren't feeling well after yesterday's events. End of story."

Eve's brain finally processed what Mark had been saying. "No, don't do that!" Eve said, keeping her voice low since they were in a public (albeit a very high-end) restaurant. "You said yourself that we need to move as fast as we can! While hype is up at such high levels! And no matter what happens next with me and the legends – that is, if something really does happen, I'm really confused about it all right now – but – uh, um – what was I getting at?"

Mark rolled his eyes. "This is what I'm talking about. You can't even keep a train of thought. You need to rest and have some time to think about what all's happened." Eve could tell that it hurt him to say this; up until now, he'd been so excited about all the publicity that Eve would bring to their cause. Relinquishing this perfect opportunity had to be a sacrifice for him.

For good or for ill, he didn't have to make that sacrifice; just as he was pulling out his phone to call the High Priest and Priestess, the latter walked in, dressed in robe-like clothing colored in tones of silver and light blue. Her penetrating gaze was immediately drawn to Eve out of all the people in the large restaurant, and she quickly strode over to the table.

Before Mark could protest, Eve stood up to greet the High Priestess. "It's an honor to meet you, High Priestess."

"No; the honor's all mine. Truly, it is," the High Priestess said as she shook hands. "To meet with someone who can not only commune with pokémon, but has also met with deities in the sacred space of Burned Tower is the true honor. And I do believe my counterpart of Aurum will say more or less the same thing. I'm sure he will be here any-"

Though the door was at the far side of the room and almost out of sight from Eve's table, the presence that entered the restaurant now was so commanding that all three of the small group turned to watch as a man in golden and red garments walked confidently over to their table.

"A great, great pleasure to meet you, Miss Addamson," the large man said as he reached the table and shook Eve's hand. Like the High Priestess, he was wearing extravagant robes. "To think – You've actually met with Raikou, Entei, and Suicune! Before we move onto anything else, you must tell me what it was like. What did they look like? And how did they act? What did they say?" He took a seat at the table, forcing everyone else to follow suit.

"I think that's something we'd both like to know, High Priest," the Priestess said as she pulled her chair up to the table.

Eve toyed with her braid of red and blue hair, partly out of nervousness and partly due to her now customary absentmindedness. "Well, I don't really have a way with words… I doubt think it's even possible to describe how awe-inspiring they really are… And what else did you ask?" Eve said, unable even to remember this much.

"They wanted to know how the legends acted," Mark prompted, ignoring the fact that he had been completely ignored by the Priest and Priestess. "And what they said. Try to focus."

"Oh, well, um…" Eve started, realizing that she wasn't sure how much she wanted to reveal. Telling Mark and Hope was one thing; telling two strangers was another thing entirely. "They seemed kind of anxious. They wanted me to, um, do something. I don't think I can really tell you what it is, though."

"And why not?" the Priest said, in a louder voice than was appropriate for the restaurant they were in. "We are the messengers of Ho-oh and Lugia; you getting a message is just the exception to the rule. Surely you can tell us more!"

Eve frowned, wishing she had Basil out to advise her. "Well, they think I can do something to make the world a better place or something… But I'm not saying anything more than that."

Mark came to her rescue now, though he looked at her a bit oddly; she hadn't mentioned anything to him or Hope about changing the world. "Anyway, that's why we're here now; we want to make the world a better place. I don't know what the legends said to Eve about it, but both of us have been trying to improve laws so that it is mandatory to treat pokémon better than they are now. While we know that you have your own reasons for meeting with us, we'd like the both of you to consider endorsing our cause in the name of your respective religions."

"It's a possibility," the priestess replied. "Argentum in particular has reason to endorse your cause. Though your position is held only by the more extreme of my religion, it certainly has precedence within our traditions. Human and pokémon unity is within our beliefs. The followers of Lugia already recognize the symbolism between someone like you being called to Burned Tower, and so they would readily accept your stance on political issues if I gave my approval as well."

The Priest nodded knowingly. "Likewise, Aurum believers see the fact that you're growlithe evolved while you were with the Three Beasts as a sign that Ho-oh has indeed given you his blessing of power. Your stance is far from Aurum's tenets, though. Still, I shall consider it… On one condition."

"Um, I don't know about conditions…" Eve said uncertainly. "I mean, is it something to do with your religion?"

"Of course!" the priest said. "In fact, it has to do with both of our religions. We – that is, the High Priestess of Argentum and myself – would like you to-"

"Wait, wait!" Eve said desperately. "I don't want you asking me anything until I understand things a little bit more. I never grew up with any religious beliefs, and I really don't know much about Argentum and Aurum. Could both of you please explain a little bit before you ask me anything?"

The high priestess smiled. "That's not a problem at all; I admire that you want to get your facts straight. I'll explain for my faith. The Argentum religion is based around the mythical pokémon Lugia. That's why it's called Argentum: in traditional depictions, Lugia is a pokémon who is silvery in color, and the unown-script word argentums means 'silver.' That's also why all of our charms and pendants are made of silver or silver-like materials. As for the idea of the religion itself… We of the Argentum religion believe that Lugia is the Mother of Unity, and thus we know that our _telos__, _- our goal – in life is to come to a greater level of communion and understanding with those around us. We have services and rituals that revolve around this principle and other similar ideas. There's much more to the religion than that – it's hundreds of years old, after all – but for the most part, that's what you would probably like to know about it. I'm sure Mark could find the time to tell you more about it; it's well known that he's very devoted to the faith."

Mark dipped his head respectfully. "I'm honored that you know. No other religion expresses how tangible or how powerful the link is between myself and Tim; it seems only natural that I should see the sense in Argentum."

Now the High Priest cleared his throat, perhaps feeling somewhat annoyed that he had been temporarily ignored. He immediately had everyone's attention, and so he began with his own explanation. "The Aurum religion reveres Ho-oh above all things. Aurum and Argentum reflect each other in many ways; for example, we both have similar rituals, and the Aurum religion uses gold pendants just as Argentum uses silver. For all our similarities, though, our god Ho-oh represents a totally different set of beliefs. Ho-oh is the Father of Power, and therefore our _telos_ is to improve ourselves and reach our greatest potential. That's why the executive branch of government uses Ho-oh as its symbol; most all of them worship Ho-oh or honor him in some other way, because all of them have immense power."

"So do your two religions directly oppose each other?" Eve asked, confused. "Neither of you seem on bad terms with the other… But there were people at my school who would always debate about whose religion was in the wrong."

The high priestess smiled. "No, not at all! While there are those at the far ends of both of our faiths who believe themselves to be the only ones in the right, that isn't the case. Our religions have a long history of working together, and there are many people who venerate both equally. Then there are still others who venerate one specifically, but still give honor to the other. And actually, this concept brings us back to the original question. Both the High Priest and I were in contact immediately after the news of yesterday's events reached our ears. And both of us believe that, whatever the purpose of your meeting was, it was meant doubly as a sign that our religions should be unified."

"It would only be confirming what our two religions have done together since their foundation," the high priest said when he saw Eve's shocked look. "More and more people seem to be drifting to the worship of false gods like Arceus, so it's obvious that Ho-oh and Lugia have willed this so that more people can see the truth of our religions. There will be a few on both sides of the issue who will object, of course, but the vast majority of people will see it as an opportunity to expand both religions and continue our evangelization. But whether they approve of it isn't the issue; as the interpreters of Lugia's and Ho-oh's wills, we both know that this is what is desired. If that wasn't the case, there would be no way I would even consider it. Before now, I've been solidly opposed to furthering the connections between Argentum and Aurum."

_I'm only just barely understanding politics. How am I supposed to understand religion, too? _"So what is it that you want me to do, exactly?"

The high priestess smiled kindly. "Well, you are the sign that Lugia and Ho-oh sent to us. You are the girl who brings unity to pokémon and human, and who also receives power from the gods themselves. You met with Aurum's deities in Argentum's capital. If we don't have your approval of what we are attempting, it would harm the credibility of our endeavor. We will go through with it either way, but we should very much like for you to publicly agree with the announcements."

"If you do, then both of us will lend our full support to your cause, even in the busy time of adjusting to the combination of our two religions," the priest said.

Eve looked at Mark for support, but he seemed to be at a loss for words. This was a huge enterprise that was being proposed. Though the two religions had been brother and sister faiths since they had begun, even Eve knew that they had always possessed a sort of religious rivalry. "But how will that work with your beliefs? Can they really meld together so easily?"

"Certainly!" The high priest said in his booming voice. "By uniting together, people can gain power; and if one person becomes powerful, then others automatically unite behind him. The two beliefs are two sides of the same coin."

Rubbing her temples, Eve looked to Mark one last time; he seemed recovered from his initial surprise, yet it appeared as if this was one thing he would let Eve choose for herself. Sighing, she looked back to the two regal-looking ecclesiastics. "Well… I really don't know anything about religion. Anything. And I won't claim to become part of your religion. But if I can just say that I don't see any problem with the merge – and when I say 'I', I mean just me as a person who maybe your gods are using as a sign, not me as some sort of prophet or anything – then I don't mind giving my approval, I suppose. I don't know… Does that make sense at all?"

Both the priest and the priestess looked overjoyed. Whether it made sense or not, a yes was still a yes. "Splendid!" the priest said, clapping his hands together. "Then tomorrow, we'll make the announcement. But for now, let's eat! I must admit, I'm famished!"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next several days felt so filled with activity that Eve quite literally didn't have time to really think about what Raikou, Entei, and Suicune had said. Every moment she was in Ecruteak, she was bombarded with questions about either her politicking or her relation to Argentum and Aurum; any time in the city was automatically chaotic and busy for Eve.

Even when she escaped from the city for a couple of hours, Eve was determined to hold true to her promise of spending more time training with her pokémon. The training was greatly needed, both for Eve and for her pokémon. Basil had to get used to his new strength and his new, more powerful thunderbolt attack; Aiden had to get used to the fact that he was now twenty or so times his old size, with new attacks like take down and flamethrower at his disposal; and Eve had to learn Blight's attacks and adjust to the ghost's battling techniques, which were incredibly different from the fighting tendencies of all the pokémon that Eve had met in the past.

During this training, the pokémon – Basil especially – noted a sort of crazed determination behind Eve's enthusiasm for the practice. They weren't the only ones to observe this phenomenon; Mark and Tim both noticed the change as well. Before, Eve had only wanted to train because her pokémon wanted to become stronger. Now, she insisted on using every moment of her free time for training. Whenever Mark or one the pokemon asked Eve about it, she admitted that her unexpected passion for training was odd and that she wasn't quite sure why it felt so important all of a sudden.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, however, she knew that the training was just something to keep her mind off of bigger and more stressful matters. She was still finding it difficult to wrap her mind around what Entei and Raikou wanted her to do. And as if having something like that hanging over her head wasn't stressful enough, there was also the full immersion into the limelight of the world to take into account. Both put such a strain on Eve's mind that she preferred to exhaust herself training rather than think on them.

To make all this worse, her physical state was quickly deteriorating. Though she had managed to rid herself of the nightmares that had plagued her in Goldenrod, new dreams came to trouble her mind and keep her from enjoying a good night's rest. Usually, Entei and Raikou featured prominently in these new dreams, though their roles changed from night to night. Sometimes, they would be encouraging her as she brought down some great power to wipe out humanity; other times, they would be chasing her down to kill her after her refusal to seek the power.

And the lack of rest wasn't the only physical ill that plagued her. The muscle and skin that had been torn by Pidgeotto's talon was healing much too slowly for Eve's liking. She could walk now, but not without flinching at the pain of each limp.

Then there was the fatigue that came from the mix of publicity and training. She was so exhausted all the time that she began to doze off at the most inconvenient times: while eating, while preparing a speech with mark, while actually at rallies, etc. Mark was usually around to wake her up, for which she was thankful. But no matter how many times she embarrassed herself, she simply could not stay energized.

And _then_ there was the fact that whenever she trained with Blight or decided that it was that gastly's turn to be out of her pokéball in the city, the fumes irritated Eve's lungs and prompted some not-so-mild coughing. Eve ignored the issue for the most part, and she didn't think that either Mark or Basil had figured out the source of the coughing; they both believed that it was a summer cold. And though it might have helped things, Eve refused to tell Blight about the problem except in casual suggestions to control her gases more. Blight was really a kind pokémon (though not the most perceptive), and Eve knew that she would be devastated if she learned that she was the one causing Eve any pain.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Four days after the talk with the priest and priestess, a call came for Eve on her cell phone, and with it came a new concern for her mind to dwell on.

"Hello?" Eve said when she picked up her phone. She hadn't recognized the number, but she gave out her cell number to very few people; it was either a completely wrong number, or it was someone that she knew.

"Hello, is this Eve?" a male voice said in response. "If so, then I'm the researcher that you talked to a couple months back, when you came to the Ruins of Alph."

"It's nice to hear from you again! Has your research been going well?" Eve said, not bothering to keep her voice down. She was currently by herself in her room at the pokémon center, so she didn't have to worry about being heard and having her words interpreted for the next day's tabloids.

Excitement entered into the researcher's voice. "The research is going better than you can imagine! We haven't located the chamber that the unown teleported you to, but I've still got some great news."

"What's that?" Eve asked, genuinely curious despite how tired she was.

"We've been able to translate almost all of the unown-script!" the man said, unable to contain his enthusiasm. "Thanks to the chambers that you discovered beneath the ruins, we came upon many more inscriptions, which have helped us to interpret the words with more quickly and accurately than we've ever been able to. I'm sure it'll be all over the news tomorrow!"

_I'm not sure if that's exactly a good thing,_ Eve thought to herself. Still, perhaps there was a good side to it. "So does that mean that you've been able to translate what the unown wanted me to read, then? That paragraph that I wrote down?"

"Yes, yes, that's exactly why I was calling!" The researcher replied. "I'll say it slowly, so if you want to write it down as I say it, you can." Eve hurriedly scrambled to dig a pen and a piece of paper from her bag. As she did, the researcher continued to talk. "Now, this is still only a rough translation, of course, and we're thinking that some words may have double meanings. Their pronoun and verb system is exceedingly difficult to translate as well, so there's probably some inaccuracy in that. But for the most part, everything seems fairly straightforward in the legend you had us translate. The only thing you might not understand is the subject of it: a 'ryuteki' is the original pokeflute."

"I know that much," Eve said, not unkindly. "But please, go on and tell me. I really want to hear this legend, or whatever it is."

"Okay, I'll get right to it, then." He cleared his throat, then recited:

"The ryuteki can call forth all parts of existence into itself, thus recreating the moment when existence first was. From the five great gods does the ryuteki receive its power. These fragments of existence are as follows: Purpose, Power, Unity, Life, and Death. Only then, when the ryuteki assembles the shards, can it be what it was created to be."

Eve frowned, uncertain of what the words of this passage meant. _It mentions five 'fragments of existence', and two of them are power and unity. Is this connected to what Entei, Raikou, and Suicune already told me? _"So do you have any idea what all of that means?"

"Some other inscriptions at the Ruins of Alph mentioned the legend," the researcher said, "And they did provide some explanation. Before apricorns were used as pokéballs, the ryuteki was apparently a very important instrument, since it was one of only a few things that gave humans any sort of power over pokémon. It could summon, it could calm, it could induce sleep… the list goes on. Because of this, the ancient peoples had many legends revolving around the ryuteki. In this myth, the people believed that the ryuteki was a gift from the gods that it represented existence itself, and that was what gave it its power. There's probably more to the myth than that; but from the inscriptions of unown-script that we have available to us, this is all we can figure out."

Eve sighed. "Well, if you find anything else about it, please let me know. And thanks so much for calling me before the news of your success hits the news."

"Not a problem! It was thanks to you that we were able to get this far in the first place! But anyway, I have to get ready; as you might imagine, all of us researching the unown are very busy at this time, frantically translating the passages with words and phrases that we still don't understand. I hope the ryuteki legend is able to somehow help you!" He hung up before Eve had the chance to say goodbye.

Slowly, Eve put down her phone and re-read what she had transcribed. _Purpose, Power, Unity, Life, and Death, huh? Is this what the unown wanted to tell me? Did they want to give me a heads up to what I'll be facing? Because it's surely too much of a coincidence for unity and power to be a part of this list and not have something to do with Lugia and Ho-oh. _

_In that case, did the ancient peoples know more about what I'm apparently called to do? Could I find out more about these powers that I'm supposed to receive if I went back to the unown now? Or is there maybe more significance to the fact that this is a pokéflute legend? Maybe there's some legendary pokéflute that I have to find in order to-_

Eve paused mid-thought, then purposefully crumpled up the paper she was holding and let it fall to the ground. To herself, she said:

"You know what? Forget it. I don't even want to think about the maybes and the what-ifs. I'm going to sleep, and maybe when I wake up, it'll all just have been a dream."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Another several days passed, and Eve's condition was definitely not getting any better. Which made things all the worse when Mark announced that there was going to be a change of plans in the campaigning of the day. He was agitated when he said so, yet clearly excited; whatever was happening, it was obviously very significant.

"Hm? What do you mean a change?" Eve asked unenthusiastically in response to the news. She had woken up maybe twenty minutes ago from her uneasy sleep, and though she'd done a marvelous job at making herself look decent with little time to spare, she couldn't fake any sort of real interest in anything at the moment.

Mark nodded, his milky eyes almost bright with enthusiasm. "I mean, something that could change the campaign entirely. In fact, I think the campaign itself is nearly at an end with the support we're about to get."

Eve stifled a yawn. "Did the national legislators suddenly change their minds? I thought that you and three others were the only ones out of the eleven who wanted a pokémon welfare law."

"No, nothing like that happened, but I think a lot of them might be switching their position soon," Mark said, lowering his voice unnecessarily; they were talking in Eve's room at the pokémon center, so there really wasn't anyone around to hear. "It's just that… Well, I only just got word from them, since it was kind of last minute… But I guess that Cynthia and Jenna are coming to help with the campaign."

Eve was jerked into full wakefulness by the names. "You mean _the_ Cynthia and_ the _Jenna? From Sinnoh?"

_Yes, he means them,_ Tim said telepathically. _Even I'm a bit excited. It will be interesting to see two people like them._ Eve easily ignored the headache that resulted; the more Tim talked to her, the weaker the effects of telepathy became. Even if the headache had been stronger, Eve probably wouldn't have noticed it. She was still too surprised by the news.

"So you mean to tell me that Cynthia, the Champion of the Sinnoh Pokémon League is coming here?" she asked incredulously. "And you're saying that Jenna, the girl who pretty much saved the world by taking on Palkia, is also coming?" Mark nodded, and Eve sat in flabbergasted silence.

Cynthia was something like the third strongest trainer in the world, if Eve remembered correctly. She was also considered to be the authority for anyone to go to who was doing research into the mythology of any part of the world, no matter how remote the place or obscure the story. This latter fact was the thing that struck Eve as particularly important. _If she really does know as much as everyone says she does, then maybe she can explain to me more about Entei, Raikou, and Suicune! I've done as much research as I can about the trio already, but nothing mentions the thing they told me about._

But even considering how important a person Cynthia was, Eve marveled even more at the fact that Jenna was coming. Though Eve had only been around eight years old at the time, she could still remember watching the drama surrounding Jenna as it unfolded: a mere thirteen-year-old in Sinnoh, ruthlessly hunting down Team Galactic and managing to fend off Palkia. Even now, some ten or eleven years later, Jenna was still considered to be the strongest trainer in the world, though there were those who argued that the so-called second strongest, Lance, deserved the position.

"Wow," Eve said after several minutes of trying to comprehend things. Though Eve had met true legends such as Celebi and the Legendary Beasts, Cynthia and Jenna were both living legends in a different sense. They hadn't been born legends. They had made themselves myths, and they had created their own stories.

"That's why we're not campaigning today," Mark explained, seeing that Eve wasn't going to say much more. "Jenna and Cynthia will be here tomorrow, and so I need to try to reserve a venue big enough for the crowd they will draw when all of us together have our first rally. So today you can train, or do whatever. Then tomorrow, we'll meet Jenna and Cynthia and help them get accustomed with Johto politics. It won't be until the day after that they officially join our campaign."

Eve nodded dumbly. "Does anyone else know about this yet? Has the media started broadcasting it for all to hear?"

"No. Until Cynthia and Jenna actually arrive by plane, no one will really know that they'll be in Ecruteak. So enjoy today, because starting tomorrow, things are going to get hectic."

Eve sighed. "Things are already hectic enough."

"I know, I know," Mark said sympathetically. "If you ever want to, you know you can back out. I don't want your health suffering for a political agenda."

Though the words sounded genuine, Tim translated what Mark actually thought. _What Mark really means is that he thinks that any sacrifice is necessary for his political cause. He just wishes it wasn't you, and he only offers you an escape route because he knows you won't take it._

Sighing again, Eve couldn't help but agree. She knew from her past experiences with Mark that Tim was being completely honest. Mark was kind at heart, but he would sacrifice anything for the sake of politics.

Eve wasn't sure how Mark interpreted her sigh. But suddenly, he changed to a new topic. A topic that Eve was more than just a little reluctant to broach, in part because she finally knew how to respond. "So I hate to ask you this when you have so much other stuff on your mind…" Mark said, "But I need to know. Have you thought any more about what I asked you in Goldenrod?"

Half wishing that she could disappear like a kecleon, Eve hastily tried to compose her thoughts. "Yes, I have. And… I just don't think I can. Not right now. I've never gone out with anyone, so I wouldn't know what do, and I can't help but think that it just wouldn't be a good idea with everything else going on." _And I can't get over what Entei said about me not being human. So long as that thought is hanging over me, going into a relationship with anyone just seems wrong. And if boyfriends and girlfriends are supposed to come to trust each other completely… How would I ever tell him that I really am more pokémon than human? Or how could I say that Entei and Raikou want me to destroy him and every other human being?_

_Or even more unspeakable… How could I say that I'm actually considering Entei's and Raikou's desire? Not because I want to, of course, but because Entei and Raikou and Ho-oh are all legends. They surely know more than me. It could be possible that what they said is actually how things are supposed to be… I just don't know._

Mark was visibly saddened by the rejection, enough so that he couldn't sense the tumult of emotions that it stirred up inside of Eve. "I understand. If that's how you feel, then I won't push the matter," he said as he stood up and walked towards the door. "But if you ever change your mind… Well, you have my number."

He stepped out of the room and shut the door quietly behind him, leaving Eve alone and staring stupidly at where he had been. She heard his footsteps walk slowly away. She remained were she was. But even though she felt alone, a voice in her mind let her know that she wasn't quite by herself yet.

_He really loves you, even if he won't say it outright,_ said Tim, still communicating with Eve even though he and his trainer were probably halfway out of the pokémon center by then, just looking for a good place to teleport from without shocking the people around them. _He probably loves you even more now that you said no. He thinks that you're honest and kind and naive. He thinks that you need protection. And he knows that he wants to be the one to protect you. Though what I said earlier remains true, it's tearing him up inside to know that the cause he has worked for all his life is part of what's exhausting you. And – but wait, I have to teleport us away now. I guess we'll just have to talk about this later. _

And with that last thought, the presence that Eve felt in her mind suddenly vanished, and Eve was left truly alone.

* * *

This chapter probably isn't my best work... More like a bunch of things just thrown together... But whatever. It got its job done. It feels sort of disjointed to me. This is partly because I wanted some time to pass in the context of the fanfic (rather than each of the parts of this chapter happening day after day), and also partly because Eve's mind is kind of jumbled at this point in time. And like I think I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, the fanfic is told from a third-person point of view with heavy emphasis on how Eve interprets things; so when her mind is jumbled, I think the fanfic tends to take on a jumbled feel as well.

So anyway, now you know more about Argentum and Aurum, you know what the unown wanted Eve to read, you know that Eve's having some issues coping with everything, and you know that Cynthia (whom you all are familiar with) and Jenna (one of my favorite OC's of all time, who originated in my other two pokemon fanfics) are going to show up. Going off of those points... First, I want to apologize for the Aurum and Argentum section of this. I think even the Creed of Life got more explanation then these two, which are undoubtedly more widespread and well-known in the context of the fanfic than some Sprout Tower-based religion. As if that weren't bad enough, the I just don't like how the priest and priestess turned out; they hardly sound religious at all when I reread the chapter, but I couldn't figure out how to fix them... So anyway, sorry if that's not up to the quality it should be.

Oh, and a quick note: Jenna is essentially the main character of Pearl version. I chose pearl because Platinum hadn't even been announced when I originally came up with "Spirits of the Past", the first fanfic I wrote with her in it, and because I've never played Diamond. Plus, I figure Cyrus would realize (despite his ego) that one legend is enough to recreate the world. Anyway, I think you all will like Jenna... At the very least, I love her. She's so fun to write about, because... Well, you'll see next chapter.

And last thing (I promise!): I don't even have the next chapter finished. HOWEVER, after tomorrow, my nine day thanksgiving break starts. While I'll be busy with a lot of things during this time, I think I'll have time to get at least a couple chapters finished, which will hopefully help me to keep to my promise of a chapter a week up through Christmas, which is when I'll have more time to write. ^_^ So yeah.

Hope you're enjoying the story!


	19. Momentum

**Chapter Nineteen: Momentum**

"Eve! Hold up a minute!"

Eve paused on her walk with Mark through one of the more deserted terminals of the Ecruteak airport. She'd gotten used to ignoring people who shouted out her name in random places, but this voice sounded familiar enough to make her think that it might be worth listening to. She turned, and it took her only a moment to find the source of the yell: a young, brown-haired man in jeans and a t-shirt, hurrying towards Eve and Mark at a slight jog.

"Is it someone you know?" Mark asked as recognition dawned on Eve's face.

Eve nodded as the man got closer. "Yeah, but not well. His name's Brian. He helped call the ambulance when I was getting Hope out of the forest after the pidgeotto incident."

Eve would have explained more, but Brian had already caught up. He smiled as he took a second or two to catch his breath, then began, "Eve, I'm glad I managed to find you. I've been meaning to speak with you for the past couple of days, but you're always so busy at the rallies that I could never get close."

"And how did you know to find her here, if I may ask?" Mark asked, his tone a mix between curiosity and suspicion.

Brian's grin widened, and his naturally ruddy complexion turned even redder. "I work for Rocket Corporation, and they have their connections everywhere. We heard a rumor that Jenna and Cynthia were coming to Johto, and so I thought it might have something to do with you. Seeing that you're both here now, I'm guessing it's true. Right?"

Though Eve had a natural dislike of Rocket Corporation, she couldn't help but like Brian. Like the first time she had met him, she noticed a sort of amiable demeanor and friendly way of talking that it seemed as if even the most melancholic of people might warm up somewhat around him. "It's true," she replied, not worried about the fact that he knew what was supposed to be a secret. "We're going to meet them right now. Their plane arrives in twenty minutes or so."

"Twenty minutes? In that case, I won't take up too much of your time. I was going to mention this the first time we met, but… well, as I think I said then, I didn't have the express permission to actually make the offer." Now his brown eyes brightened, and he continued, "But now I do! So here's the thing – Rocket Corporation wants to make you an offer. If you will come work as a pokémon translator for them, then they'll handle all the paperwork and you'll become pretty darn rich. Trust me; they already have quite a few really wealthy people who would be willing to pay a hefty sum to hear their pokémon's thoughts and opinions. You'd be able to start immediately."

"And what about her campaigning?" Mark asked, his sightless eyes narrowing.

Brian frowned. "Well, you see, I really wish Rocket hadn't picked me to deliver this message… 'Cause that's the thing. The whole reason they want you working for them is to get you off of your campaign. They think that if the laws you are proposing pass on a national level, then it will start the culture moving to a more pro-pokémon point of view. And they worry that something like that could eventually harm the trade they do in pokémon and pokémon-centered products. Personally, I'm kinda hoping you don't take the job. Even though I don't agree with every single thing you say, I still want what you're proposing to pass into law."

Though she'd heard this from people many times since the start of her campaign, Eve somehow felt very flattered that Brian was supporting her cause. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt so flattered. She supposed his kind demeanor had something to do with it, and he had a sort of charisma that made Eve want to be liked by him. "Well, in that case, you don't need to worry," Eve assured him. "No matter how much money Rocket Corporation can offer me, I'm not planning on abandoning the campaign."

Brian let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear it, though admittedly it makes my job a little tougher with Rocket."

"How so?" Eve asked.

"I'm a public rep for Rocket for two reasons," Brian explained. Holding up one finger, he said, "Firstly, I'm a fairly decent trainer, if I do say so myself. I've even got a couple of evolved pokémon. Rocket always appreciates good trainers." Then, holding up a second finger, he continued, "Secondly – and more importantly – I'm apparently better at public speaking than pidgeot are good at flying. Whenever Rocket Corporation has something on its mind, I'm the one who has to let the world know. So if you're going to continue your campaign, that means they'll probably start having me rally support against you… Though I really wish it didn't have to be me. As I said, I like what you're doing."

"Can't you just request not to do it?" Eve asked. "Surely they'd respect the fact that your opinions differ from theirs."

Shaking his head, Brian answered, "No, it doesn't quite work like that. Rocket prides itself on being committed to its employees, and it does a pretty good job of it, too. But in return, they expect loyalty to duty. It's a really different work environment, I'll tell you that, probably because of Rocket's unique history. It's not necessarily a bad thing… But if you quit or don't do what you're told, then Rocket makes it extremely difficult for you to get hired to another job… But anyway, I'll just have to live with it. Can't say it'll be the first time doing something like this. But just so you know in advance, I'm sorry if I've got to campaign against you."

"No, don't worry about it!" Eve said, not wanting him to feel guilty. "I understand. It's your job, so you have to do it."

Brian smiled as if those words meant everything in the world to him, which in turn made Eve extremely glad that she'd said them. "Thanks," he said. "Anyway, I'll let you go meet up with Jenna and Cynthia now – Best of luck with your campaign!"

"And good luck dealing with Rocket Corporation!" Eve said as Brian began to walk away. "It was nice talking with you!"

Though blind, Mark kept his eyes trained steadily on Brian as he walked away. "You know, there's something intriguing about him," he said once the person in question was out of earshot. "I just can't quite put my finger on it. He seems nice enough, though. I didn't expect as much from someone working for Rocket Corporation."

Eve thought back to the day she'd left home, recalling the two Rocket employees who had helped her when the swarm of beedrill had been chasing her. "I guess you can't judge a book by its cover after all, huh?"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"And here's your hotel room," Mark said as he, Eve, Jenna, and Cynthia got off their elevator and approached the nearest door to their right. Tim had teleported the whole group straight to the hotel from the airport; that hadn't originally been the plan, but all four of them together had been attracting too much attention for them to get anywhere in a normal fashion.

Jenna opened the door with her card key and stepped into the room. "Wow, nice place you got for us. _So _much better than the dinky little pokémon center rooms I normally have to deal with when traveling. Though having to share it with Miss I-Know-Everything here sorta screws up the awesomeness," she said, rolling her eyes in Cynthia's direction.

Eve scowled as she looked at Jenna, trying to get a feel for what this girl was like. The first thing she noticed was her messy, shoulder-length brown hair, tied back into a loose ponytail; this combined with her rather standard trainer attire of shorts and a t-shirt suggested someone who didn't care much about her appearance. Even aside from her outfit and untidy hair, she wasn't any great beauty: scars from training covered her arms, and her face seemed to have a permanently dirty tint to it. In short, the twenty-four-year-old who had once saved the entire world was nothing like what Eve had expected.

Cynthia saw Eve's deciphering look and misinterpreted it slightly. "Jenna's just joking. She doesn't hate me as much as she says."

"That's what _you_ think." Jenna said as she picked up the TV remote and began flipping through channels. "Just proves that you don't know it all, I guess. These two pokémon-rights fanatics that we're visiting are probably smarter than you. It doesn't take a genius to see that I don't particularly enjoy having you around." Her tone of voice contained neither an obvious hint of jest nor any true maliciousness in it, making it difficult for Eve to tell whether or not Jenna was joking. Eve nonetheless got the feeling that, as Cynthia had said, Jenna was only kidding, and that perhaps the serious face and voice was just Jenna's way of being funny.

Cynthia sighed, but with a smile on her face. "I apologize on Jenna's behalf; she doesn't know how to show respect to anyone."

"The hell I don't!" Jenna replied, her eyes trained steadily on a show on the Pokémon Planet Channel depicting the hunting techniques of charizard. "Without me, this entire world would have been torn to inter-dimensional shreds by Palkia. Why in the name of Arceus should I care what people think about me?"

Cynthia sighed again. "She likes to brag about saving the world at every chance she gets, just to make sure that no one's forgotten. You'll get used to it. Anyway, I'd like to thank you both again for welcoming us to Johto on such short notice. Though for the life of me I still can't guess why Jenna suddenly took an interest in coming to see you." Cynthia was graceful and refined in every way that Jenna was not; and though she was probably in her mid-forties, she also had a beauty and style that Jenna didn't even come close to matching. As if to further emphasize the difference between herself and Jenna, Cynthia was currently wearing the beautiful, all-black outfit that she was known to wear for any battle challenges to her position as Sinnoh Champion.

"Well, I don't have a clue why you followed me over from Sinnoh, so you can't complain about my own reasons being vague," Jenna said, still watching the TV intently as a charizard more or less melted a geodude before consuming the remains; if the program was to be believed, this helped with digestion.

"I told you before. Your husband wanted me to keep an eye on you while you were visiting Sinnoh, and he asked me to tag along when we found out you were going to take the next plane to Johto. That's at least part of the reason why I'm here."

Eve scowled, somewhat surprised by this new information. "You're married, Jenna? You don't strike me much as the settling down type. And don't you live in Sinnoh?"

"Nah, Sinnoh got kinda boring after I beat the crud out of Team Galactic," Jenna said casually. "Of course, everywhere else was pretty much just as boring. And who said anything about settling down? I mean, sure, I married Evan and we're living in Kanto, but I stay busy enough helping out with Evan's whole paranormal research business."

Eve could have burst out laughing, though she restrained herself somehow. The whole concept of the world's savior getting married to some ghost enthusiast just seemed unbelievably amusing. Instead, she asked, "Do you have any kids?"

Still not looking away from the TV even though commercials were playing now, Jenna replied, "No, though I can't say that I don't want 'em. But life sucks. You know, I go to all the trouble of saving the world, and you'd think I'd be able to have just one kid for my efforts. But no. Maybe Arceus didn't like it when I beat up his little controller of space, and so he's getting his revenge this way."

Eve didn't know how to respond. Thankfully, Cynthia came to her rescue. "Don't mind Jenna; she can be fairly frank about what's on her mind. You get used to it after a while."

Mark cleared his throat and spoke up. "Not to say that all this talking isn't fun, but if you don't mind me asking… Why did you two come? Cynthia, you already mentioned that you came because Jenna came. But you mentioned on the phone that, so long as you two are here, you'll both help with our campaign. Is that true?"

"Yes, of course," Cynthia said. "We both appreciate what you're trying to do for Johto. Sinnoh passed similar legislation years ago, and we would love to attest to how successful-"

"Woah, hold up a minute!" Jenna interrupted, finally turning around from the TV. "You volunteered me for some stupid political thing? You know I stopped doing that sort of crap years ago. I didn't come here to do that."

"Then what did you come here for?" Mark asked, in a tone that made it clear that he wasn't going to let this disorderly celebrity evade the question.

Jenna suddenly locked eyes with Eve, despite the fact that Mark had been the questioner. "You really want to know why I'm here? In that case, listen closely. I just wanted to let you know, Eve, that if you ever meet up with Ho-oh, you'd better let me in on it. If not, there will be hell to pay, that I promise you. And don't try to deny that that's what you're planning on doing; as if meeting up with those three oversized beasts doesn't prove enough, my instinct is shouting at me that you're going to be meeting Ho-oh very soon. And I'd be dead if my instinct ever lied to me."

Eve was wordless for a few moments, caught off her guard both by Jenna's almost threatening demeanor and the fact that she so firmly suspected that the possibility of meeting up with Ho-oh existed. "Well, um, why do you want to meet Ho-oh so badly in the first place?"

"You didn't deny the fact that you're meeting with Ho-oh," Jenna said, a triumphant grin on her face. "That means I'm right. And anyway, don't you worry about why I want to meet him. I've got some business to discuss with him, that's all."

Shaking her head furiously, Eve argued, "Just because I didn't deny it doesn't mean it's true!" For some reason, she very much wanted to keep as much of her meeting with the legends a secret, at least from people she didn't know well.

The grin didn't leave Jenna's face. "And you're still not denying it. Come on – if you want to convince me, then say it to my face. Tell me that you're not going to meet with Ho-oh."

"Well, I, uh…" _Oh, whatever. This is useless. I can't lie worth a rattata's whisker. _"Well, I don't know for sure whether I want to yet. So it's not certain."

Jenna's face suddenly went red with rage as she jumped up from her spot on the hotel bed and stormed towards Eve, much to everyone's surprise. "I can make that choice a lot easier for you. You're going. End of discussion. And I swear on my sandslash's claws that you'll regret it if you don't. Trust me. Even some stupid arcanine couldn't stop the smallest of my pokémon, so you'll be in deep trouble if you make me unhappy." The pure force of the anger that radiated from her hit Eve like a blow, forcing her to step backwards.

Cynthia quickly pulled Jenna back, and Mark steeped rather protectively in front of Eve. "I'd say that's enough of that," Mark said, glowering at Jenna. "But you know, maybe Eve would be more inclined to even think about your wish if you helped out with our campaign." Mark glanced blindly back to Eve for some sort of confirmation of this statement, but Eve was literally so scared that she could hardly take in what Mark had just said.

_I've seen a lot of frightening things… That flying pokémon that Celebi showed me, for one, and Entei's anger for another… But that was terrifying in a whole different way. Jenna may be just a human, but the power that backed it up… It almost felt as if all six of her pokémon had come out of their pokéballs with a will to kill. And the conviction behind her threat was clearly there, too… If I don't do it, then she is going to make me miserable, somehow._

"Yeah, whatever," Jenna replied to Mark's suggestion. "I'll help with your little campaign. Arceus only knows what else I'll do with my time in such a boring region. But I'd better see Ho-oh sooner or later."

"Jenna! This is appalling, even for you!" Cynthia said. Then, turning to Eve, she continued, "Really, I'm sorry that she's like this. If she tries anything later, I'll knock some sense into her with my pokémon."

"Yeah right," Jenna murmured under her breath.

Cynthia ignored the comment. "Anyway, in addition to my already stated reasons for being here, I was also hoping that you might consider telling me a little more about the legendary pokémon you encountered just a week or so ago. That is, if it's not intruding too much on things that should be between you and Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. I simply love collecting myths and learning about mythical pokémon, and it's rare for me to have the opportunity to meet someone who has actually seen one, not to mention talked to one."

Calmed down somewhat, Eve replied, "I can't tell you much… But I'd be more than happy to tell you what I can. Especially if you're going to be so kind as to campaign with Mark and I."

Cynthia looked as ecstatic as she possibly could without ruining her graceful demeanor. "In that case, could you tell me about them right now? At the very least, it might help us get our minds off of a certain someone," Cynthia said, turning her head momentarily to look at Jenna, who had apparently lost interest in the conversation as soon as her threat had been made. Now she was lying on her stomach on one of the beds as she unflinchingly watched a school of carvanha tearing into the blubber of a live young wailmer.

Jenna just smiled in response to Cynthia's comment, though her eyes remained riveted on her show as the televised sea was stained red with blood. "Ah, come on, Cynthia. You know you can't stop thinking about such a great person like me." She burst out laughing for a couple of seconds. Then, amusement still plain on her face, she said, "I think things are going to be fun the next couple of weeks. I can't wait to get to know you more, Eve."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Several days later, Eve strolled through one of the large parks of Ecruteak City, taking advantage of one of her few breaks in the campaign. It was early evening, and Eve was glad to see that there weren't many people around; the sun was too low in the sky for the park to attract crowds, and it probably helped that Eve was currently walking through one of the spacious wild areas of the park that was normally only used by trainers.

Blight, Basil, and Hannah were all accompanying Eve on her walk, and Eve was attempting to discuss everything that was on her mind. This was difficult for multiple reasons. Firstly, her cough had worsened over the last few days, and having Blight out only aggravated the problem; yet Eve knew that the ghost-type meant no harm, and Eve didn't have the heart to put her back in her pokéball when there was no other reason why she shouldn't be involved in the conversation. So she endured the coughing fits that occurred after every other sentence or so, still saying that it must be just a cold.

Secondly, Eve's mind was still trying to come to grips with everything that was happening, even though over two weeks had passed since her meeting with the legendary trio. Her mind told her that getting involved with the "powers" that Entei, Raikou and Suicune had spoken of was a bad idea; at the same time, she didn't like to think what either Entei or Jenna would do to her if she refused. Also pushing her was a sort of instinct, fainter but not unlike the compulsion that had drawn Eve to Burned Tower in the first place. And this instinct – be it Fate or some higher being or whatever – called Eve to seek out the powers.

Or maybe that feeling was just her imagination. A dream, or a nightmare. Lately, Eve felt as if there wasn't much of a difference between these things and reality.

"But you know, I'm still not sure what to think of Jenna," Eve said as she went off on another tangent, leading herself farther away from the topics that really mattered as she continued to walk through the wooded area of the park. "She doesn't strike me as a bad person, even if she doesn't show any respect for anyone. Aside from that threat when she first came here, she's not really mean. And the people who don't like either me or Mark or Cynthia in the campaign seem to like her well enough. I mean… I don't know. But it's sort of like she just seeps power – or maybe it's just ego – and whatever it is, it's somehow compelling. Or maybe it's just the fact that Mark and Cynthia and I are too polite when it comes to politics, whereas Jenna won't stand for anyone disagreeing with her. I don't-"

~You might want to be quiet for a minute, Eve,~ Blight said, floating down closer to her head and causing her to cough rather painfully. Blight didn't notice, and instead continued to say, ~I can see some guy coming this way from farther ahead. Could I play a trick on him?~

Eve shook her head as she recovered from her brief coughing fit. "No, but thanks for pointing him out," Eve said, catching a brief glance of the person as he walked through a gap in the trees. She recognized who it was. "Actually, I think he might be able to help us. That is, unless any of you have caught any scent or sight of Hope around here."

Basil twitched his long tail in annoyance; aside from Aiden, who was in all practicality too big to be out of his pokéball, Basil was the one with the best senses of smell and hearing. ~I haven't seen her at all. Are you sure she's training here?~

"No. But she told me that if I was going to find her anywhere, it would be here. During the day, at least," Eve said. Then, cupping her hands towards the person walking in the trees ahead, Eve shouted, "Hey! Katsu!" The shouting caused her to start on another brief coughing fit.

Yet as she was coughing, she saw Katsu jump slightly in the distance, probably surprised to hear someone – especially Eve – in the training section of the part this late in the day. Sunset was approaching, after all, and most city trainers weren't dedicated enough to keep training into the evening.

As Katsu recognized Eve and began his approach, Eve wondered just what she thought of him at the moment. Lately, he'd actually been really supportive of Eve and her campaigns, going out of his way to come to one every now and then despite the fact that he could be training for his rematch with Morty. Of course, this was more because of his brief friendship with Eve than any sort of support for the message Eve was trying to get legislated.

If Eve was going to be honest with herself, she had to admit that she kind of missed talking with Katsu. While she still couldn't forget how thoughtless he was towards pokémon, she also could not forget the fact that she had enjoyed talking to him during the short time they had known each other. He was nice, chivalrous (in part because his parents, as members of the Creed of Life, had raised him as such), and Eve found that he was charming in his own sort of way.

"Oh, hi Eve," Katsu said as he finally reached Eve where she was waiting for him. "Nice to see you. You need something?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd seen Hope," Eve said, feeling slightly disappointed with Katsu's rather brief greeting. He apparently had been able to completely discard the friendlier, more casual manner that he had developed towards Eve while they had been back in Violet City. Even in his short salutation, Eve could tell that he was treating her more like someone with whom he was only somewhat acquainted as contrasted with the friendship of before.

Katsu smiled, as if amused by what Eve had said. "Now that you mention it, I have seen Hope. I came here to talk to her. She's just a little farther in, back the way I came. It's definitely the most deserted part of the park. Anyway, if that's all you need, then I guess I'll be off,"

He moved as if to leave, but Eve stopped him. "Wait – you came here to talk to Hope? You never seemed to like her that much, if you don't mind me saying."

Shrugging, Katsu responded, "To be honest, I'm disgusted by her. That's actually why I wanted to talk to her, 'cause it's been nagging at me. I just can't comprehend how she can be so careless with her own life. I mean, maybe it's just because I've been raised to believe in the Creed of Life, but it just doesn't seem right. Life is sacred, and most people realize that fact most fully in the natural instinct of self-protection. Yet I come up to her tonight, and…"

"And?"

Katsu shook his head in frustration. Apparently, seeing Hope had really upset him in some way. "And I see her, and I can't believe that anyone can be so damaged and not only accept it, but welcome more. Her face looks terrible – it's not even done healing yet – but she's still training with her pokémon as always, accumulating new cuts and bites and scrapes. And I get the feeling that if she can do that much to herself, then she could do so much worse to others humans, given the right motivation."

"So you're saying she's just a more extreme version of you, then?" Eve said before she could stop herself, still thinking about how he often treated pokémon.

"What? No, of course not!" Katsu replied, a certain level of outrage entering his voice. "I am nothing like her. I'm in no way free of sin, I'll admit. But I at least try to treat other people well, and I most definitely realize the dignity of my own life enough to keep it from harm! How am I like her?"

Eve thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain what was obvious to her. Eventually, Basil was the one to come up with the counter-argument. ~So by respecting the dignity of life, he doesn't mean just avoiding murder, does he? He means that he recognizes that nothing with life deserves to suffer?~ Eve translated the questions.

"Yeah, that's right," Katsu said, seeming rather annoyed that he was being interrogated by a pikachu. "What of it?"

~And you seem to imply that a greater respect for life originates with self-dignity, and then grows from there. Correct?~

"Yes," Katsu replied when Eve translated again. "That's what the monks always taught me when I visited Sprout Tower with my family, and it makes a lot of sense."

Basil sparked triumphantly from his position next to Eve's feet, as if he now had the evidence to support his side of the argument. ~The point I'm making is… Well, maybe there are three levels of respect for life, at least in this case. Hope has none of them. You have two of them – respect for self and respect for those whom all humans know that they should respect: other humans. But you still don't mind seeing your pokémon suffer, so you still don't have a respect for non-human life. Or do you deny that Hannah and Blight and I are alive? And what about your own pokémon – are they alive?~

Eve had Basil repeat what he was saying more slowly, then translated it piece by piece. This took even longer than it should have due to the occasional interjection of a body-wracking cough or two, but even with the disjointed retelling, Katsu seemed to get the message. "That's completely different," He said in frustration, though he talked to Eve and not to Basil. "Pokémon are made for battling. It's part of their natures. Even in the wild, pokémon still battle. They can endure more than a human can, as well. Or are you going to tell me that you force your pokémon to battle, and that they have absolutely no desire to battle?"

"I don't think that's what Basil is getting at," Eve said, speaking for herself even though Basil had his own rebuttal. "To some extent, maybe suffering isn't even so bad of a thing, because it makes pokémon stronger, which is why they sometimes battle for fun even in the wild. But I think what Basil is saying is that so long as pokémon have life – which I'm pretty sure you won't deny – then they deserve the same respect that you give to other humans. Even if they enjoy battling, they don't enjoy pain, and they don't necessarily enjoy being captured and forced to do whatever a human says. You should be more sympathetic to that, even if you still won't recognize that you were just having a conversation with a perfectly sentient pikachu."

Katsu inhaled as if to begin on a long response, but then let the breath out before he started. "Maybe you have a point. And yet… it's battling. You act like it should be a completely serious affair. I mean, be realistic. Even in the most competitive battles, it's more about the challenge and the strategies of the trainers. Next you're going to be telling me that soccer should be banned because people's feelings might get hurt and their shins might get bruised."

"That's not the same-"

"It's _exactly_ the same thing. Why can't you realize that?" Katsu said before Eve could finish the phrase. "Even if there are injuries, in the end, it's just a game. It's no different than basketball or soccer or baseball or any other sport. Or is all of society wrong on this point, and you and a few other extremists are the only ones who can see the truth?"

Looking down at the ground, Eve took a step back. She didn't know how to respond. As seemed to happen every time she talked with Katsu, she was becoming depressed with the fact that yes, most of society was wrong when it came to the issue of pokémon and battling. Hannah and Basil both shifted slightly to position themselves more between Eve and Katsu, more out of support than because they were actually going to do anything. Even the light-hearted Blight hovered a little closer to provide support.

"Just never mind…" Eve said, still looking down at the ground. _And this is why, no matter how nice a guy he is in general, I just can't be around him much._ "I'm going to go find Hope now. I really do need to talk to her. It was nice to see you again." She was conflicted about this last statement; while she really did like talking to Katsu in most circumstances, it just seemed a shame that he couldn't appreciate pokémon for what they were.

Katsu began walking away again. "Yeah, nice seeing you too, I suppose," he said without stopping or turning around. "Good luck with your campaign."

Eve stood in silence for a while after he left, lost in thought. She did this more and more since she had met the legends in Burned Tower; sometimes, it seemed as if she would never snap out of it if others weren't around her to pull her back to reality. This was one of those times.

~Eve?~ Blight said; her joking demeanor just couldn't take this constant seriousness. ~Weren't we going to give that Hope person back her pokémon?~

Blinking dumbly, Eve slowly looked up at Blight. "Um, yeah, I suppose so. Thanks for reminding me. Let's go."

Though it was August and summer still had its grip on Ecruteak, Eve couldn't help but feel rather chilled as a breeze snaked its way through the trees, whispering of something important that Eve couldn't quite make out. The sun was setting, though under the trees of the large park, twilight had already set in. Hoothoot called out from the trees around the group, asking them questions as they walked in the direction that Katsu had came from; but Eve didn't answer them, and even Blight didn't have the energy to play a good-hearted trick on the nocturnal birds.

Hope, Spinarak, and Pidgeotto sparred without speaking, yet they were not difficult to find; the flapping of wings, moving of feet, and the occasional exclamation of pain that issued forth from the trio was guidance enough for Eve and her pokémon. Hope and her pokémon noticed Eve almost immediately, yet they didn't end their one-on-one-on-one match for another ten minutes.

As Eve stood there and watched as the match played out, she found her eyes being drawn to Hope's mangled face again and again. Though Hope was a quick healer and no longer had any stitches in her facial wound, the raw, red scab that cut a diagonal through her face would undoubtedly leave a mark that no amount of time would hide. It was thinner than before, of course, thanks to the stitching, yet due to either the location or the nature of the wound, it still looked as if the stitches could only pull the sides of the wound so close.

Tragic as this was, something about it seemed to fit Hope in a way that was hard for Eve to understand. It was almost like it was a physical manifestation of how damaged she was emotionally and mentally. Even if Hope didn't see her current state as something bad, Eve knew that it simply wasn't natural.

"Are you here about the pokémon you're still keeping for me?" Hope said once her training was over, not looking up as she directed where she needed Spinarak to spin bandages for herself and Pidgeotto.

"Um, yeah," Eve said. "It's not that I don't like Houndoom and Marowak and Sneasel or anything… They're actually really interesting to talk to. Except maybe Sneasel, because he never talks, and when he does it's usually to be sorta mean. But they really want to be back with you. I still don't understand why you wanted me to take them in the first place."

Hope returned Spinarak and Pidgeotto to their respective pokéballs. "I'll take them back now, I suppose. I've healed enough that even if something happens, I should be able to take care of things."

After two weeks of holding onto Hope's pokémon, Eve was rather glad that they could finally get back to their trainer. "But what do you think will happen to you with those pokémon with you?" Eve asked as she handed the pokéballs over. "I mean, how can you be any less safe with your strongest pokémon with you?"

Hope met Eve's eyes and held them, even though Eve kept on feeling her own eyes being drawn to the scabbing wound. "It's probably nothing," Hope said, though Eve could tell this was exactly the opposite of what Hope thought. "I just wanted to play it safe. Thanks for taking care of them, I suppose."

"Can I ask you something before I go?" Eve asked.

Hope checked to make sure that all her pokéballs were placed securely in her coil-like bracelets. "I'm leaving for the pokémon center right now. You may as well ask me as we walk."

"Okay. Well… I was just wondering if you're planning on staying in Ecruteak for much longer, now that you've been released from the hospital for a few days," Eve said as she walked beside Hope.

Looking up through the branches and into the sky that was drawing the cloak of night ever closer to the world, Hope replied, "Maybe. It depends how my battle for the gym badge here goes, now that I have my main pokémon back. If I win, I'll leave immediately. If I lose, and keep losing, then I might end up leaving even before I win."

Eve nodded. "If you do get it, won't it be your seventh badge? You already have four from Kanto, and I know you've got at least two from Johto."

"Yeah, it'll be my seventh." And after that, they lapsed into silence for a long while. Eve's pokémon were quiet as well, and everyone remained quiet even when Eve returned Blight and Hannah to their pokéballs when they were exiting the park.

Finally, when they reached the pokémon center, Eve asked the question that, for some reason, seemed really important at the moment. "Hope? If you decide to leave, would you mind letting me know before you go?"

A strange look flickered over Hope's face as she glanced over at Eve. Perhaps it was disbelief; or maybe cynicism; or maybe it was actual hope, something that Eve had not once observed in this person so empty of everything.

And when the answer actually came, her tone gave no explanation of the look. Quite simply, in as flat a tone as ever, Hope said, "We'll see."

* * *

*eh-hem* HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Normally, I'd publish two chapters to thank all of my readers and reviewers to commemorate this, but I really don't have enough stockpiled to do so. So you'll just have to take my word on the fact that I am very, VERY thankful to all of you who have read this far, even those of you who don't review! So thanks!

I ended up liking this chapter way more than I thought I would, mainly because Jenna is just sitting there watching gruesome pokémon maulings while Cynthia is trying to have a civil conversation. I really, really found myself enjoying writing Jenna. Even in the past fanfics that I had her in, she wasn't quite this amusing; time has definitely changed how she is and how she sees the world. But while I'm on that thought (as much as I hate promoting my other fanfics in sort of unrelated fanfics) I will encourage you to read one or both of Jenna's fanfics... They're very short, and they sort of give some background to the characters. Though my writing wasn't as good back when I wrote them, so it's up to you. (It was up to you anyway, but whatever...) So anyway, I do hope you're liking Jenna as a character so far.

Other than that, it was mainly just some character development and having Brian show back up again, since he's kind of interesting. He'll be more interesting as time goes on (as I hope most of my characters are).

I'm looking forward to posting the next couple of chapters... I just finished writing 20, and I'll start on 21 once I have time to edit 20. No more college visits this week, so I'll have more free time. ^_^ On a completely unrelated note, I went to Canada this week, which I think is one of the most awesome things ever. True, I was only at Niagara Falls, and I was only there for a night... But I was there. It made me happy.

And one final thing: thanks so much to Xigbar for the enthusiastic review! And just so you know, I update once a week, always on Thursdays. Well, Thursdays my time, which is probably a lot later than Thursday for some of the people that read this. But I'm really glad you like the story! Thank you SO MUCH for the review! ^_^


	20. Reawakened Nightmares

**Chapter Twenty: Reawakened Nightmares**

Almost a week had passed since Jenna and Cynthia had arrived in Johto, and thanks to them, the campaigning was going well. As Eve opened her room at the pokémon center this particular evening, she felt even more optimistic than usual. The opposition in the National Legislature was beginning to crumble; yet another representative had switched to the pokémon rights side of the issue today, meaning that a total of four out of the eleven representatives were currently on their side of the issue. True, she'd still need three more people solidly behind her position in order to get a national law passed; but popular opinion was overwhelmingly in support of the campaign, and so long as Mark, Eve, Jenna, and Cynthia could keep up their current pace, Mark guessed that they could have it passed in the legislature within two months.

Eve turned on her cell phone as she flung herself down on her bed, checking to see if she had received any calls during the day; of course, she normally didn't, but she always kept it off while she was off doing political stuff just in case someone did. For once, however, she saw the icon on her phone indicating a missed alert. And when she clicked it to see who had called, she nearly dropped her phone in her haste to press the talk button and call the number back.

Eve anxiously held the phone to her ear as she waited for the ringing to end and someone to pick up. After four rings, Eve's excitement had diminished somewhat; but on the fifth, it rose yet again as the deep male voice came through the earpiece: "Hello?"

"Hi, dad, this is Eve," she said quickly, as if she couldn't wait to get the words out. Her dad had never approved of how much she involved herself with pokémon, even knowing that she had such a unique ability; despite this, Eve couldn't deny that she missed him, and that she desperately wanted him to at least talk to her, even if he would never accept her closeness to pokémon. "I saw that you called earlier, and so I called back right away. What's up?"

"So you haven't listened to the message I left you, then?" Eve's father replied, his voice sounding vaguely disappointed. All hope that maybe her dad had called to check up on her suddenly left; she knew this tone of voice all too well. "All that I needed to tell you is on that message. You really didn't need to call."

Eve clenched her teeth, her frustration building to the point that she was as close to anger as she had been in a long while. "So long as we're talking, why don't you just tell me why you called?" She still tried to keep some cordiality in her voice, as if there was still some hope that her father might drop his cold tone and speak more as a father should to his daughter.

An audible sigh came through the earpiece. "I have a researcher friend who does his work in a facility just east of Ecruteak; he's quite successful, in fact. He's one of the few scientists in the world who has managed to revive and raise prehistoric pokémon. I've worked with him before… I actually found the fossils he used during one of my geological studies, and he used the DNA in them to revive a pair of pokémon… Aerodactyl, I think they're called. You ever heard of aerodactyl?"

Biting back the growing sadness, Eve said, "No, I haven't. Anyway, what about them?"

"I guess his aerodactyl escaped. He says they are potentially dangerous to humans, so he wants to recapture them without some sort of uproar among the public. He heard that I was related to you, and he knows that you're in his neck of the woods, so he was hoping you might be able to talk some sense into the aerodactyl and get them back for him."

Eve's voice quavered slightly as she asked, "Is that all you needed to tell me?"

"Well, yes, I suppose," the voice came through, with the same uncaring tone as before. "His address is in the message I left. You can talk to him in person so you can find out where the aerodactyl might have gone."

"So you don't even care about what I've been doing?" Eve asked, the quaver leaving her voice as a sort of resignation replaced her sadness. "And don't say that you haven't heard. Even if you somehow hadn't heard it on the news wherever you are, I know mom would have told you. She calls me every few days or so to check in on me. Why don't you?"

"What do you want me to say?" Her father asked in response, exasperated more than anything. He sounded as if he was talking to a child who just couldn't understand the ways of the grown-up world. "I tried to raise you up to be reasonable, yet you insisted on getting involved with pokémon, which are overhyped enough. I'm not going to lie about how I feel about it, or cover up my opinions to make you feel better about yourself. I disagree with everything you are doing right now; there are so many things that people's time and money could be spent on than some pokémon rights campaign."

"Like what? Your geology?" Eve asked, no longer caring if he got angry with her – which undoubtedly he would. "So just because you don't get the funding you want because the good funding is in pokémon-related studies, you're going to take it out on everyone involved with pokémon? Are you that bitter?"

Now anger entered his voice, as Eve had expected; they had gone through this exact argument numerous times before. He always got angry when Eve suggested why he hated pokémon so much. "I've told you before that that is not the reason, Eve! You know that I have my reasons for hating the obsession that people have for pokémon nowadays! It's a waste of resources, especially when you consider that we still have plenty of homeless and starving people in the world. How can we even call ourselves decent human beings if we spends millions on pokémon research and pet products each year when there are thousands of people who could better use that sort of money?"

"Like you? Do you think you can use that money better?"

"How sharper than an arbok's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" He said, quoting something famous that Eve vaguely remembered from her classes in high school. Her dad had probably learned it in college, since he often emphasized his education in these arguments; another quarrel he had with Eve was that she had elected not to go to college immediately after high school. "I helped to raise you, I paid for all your food over the years – I'm even still paying your cell phone bills, though I couldn't tell you why I even do that right now! Show some gratitude!"

Eve was already emotionally exhausted from the pressures put on her by the campaign; she didn't even have the energy to take her normal course in the argument. Normally, this is when guilt and sadness would take over, when she would say that she was sorry but that she couldn't change what she believed. That was when her dad would recognize the validity of not backing down on her beliefs, the argument would end, and they would go back to never talking to each other.

Instead, Eve replied with indifference. "If you want, then stop paying for my cell phone. I can do without if I need to. If you won't support me even after everything I've gone through in the past few months, then I don't think I want you to be paying for my phone at all."

There was a moment of silence for a minute; either he couldn't believe that his daughter had actually said that, or his fury was building to even greater heights. When he spoke again, Eve concluded that the latter theory held more truth. "If you are going to insist on being unreasonable, then that's exactly what I'll do! The only reason I'd agreed to pay for it for so long was because your mother wanted you to have some way to communicate in case of emergency, but I can see that you don't even deserve that recourse! And until you apologize and get some sense, then that's how things will stay!"

A tear or two rolled from Eve's eyes, but she hardly noticed them. Though this was the first time their argument had gone so far, part of her had been expecting it to happen eventually. "All right. I'll make sure to get that address off my voicemail before you deactivate my phone, then. I'll go do what you asked me to do – consider it a last act of good will before you disown me. And dad, just so you know: for once, I'm not going to apologize for my beliefs being different than yours. No father who loves his daughter should act as you are acting now." Her voice was completely flat; and though she believed every word she said, there was no emotion behind them.

Eve's father didn't even honor her with an answer; he hung up without another word. She didn't let that faze her. Calmly, she listened to her voicemail, copied down the information, wrote down all the contact info she had in her phone, and then threw the phone in the trash. There was no point in keeping it around any longer. If Eve knew one thing about her father, it was that he followed through on what he said.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She had a couple of hours free the following afternoon, so she took the opportunity to find the scientist's facilities using the address her dad had given her. She still felt rather empty about the entire argument, and as she walked through some of the nicer neighborhoods on the east side of town, she couldn't help but wonder if this was a cost of all the pressure that had been put on her in recent weeks. Or maybe it was simply due to the fact that the argument hadn't really changed anything except for Eve's lack of phone.

She told Basil about the previous night on the walk over, and he acted more upset than she felt about how her father had acted. However, by the time Eve had made it into the lobby of the large research center, both Basil and she had dropped the topic entirely.

"Is there a Mr. Gregory Quick here?" Eve asked the receptionist, a blond lady who looked to be in her fifties. "He should be expecting me. My name's Eve Addamson."

The receptionist looked at Eve incredulously, probably recognizing who she was; yet she didn't say anything if this indeed was the case. "I was told to send you back to his office whenever you got here. Just go down that hallway over there, and his office will be the fifth on the right."

Eve followed the directions, and easily found the room with the scientist's name on it. She knocked on the door, suddenly self-conscious as to whether she should have Basil hanging out on her shoulder. But a voice yelled at her to come in before she could pull out Basil's pokéball, so she pushed it from her mind and opened the door.

The man inside stood up as soon as she entered the room, extending his hand for a handshake. He was in semi-formal business attire. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Addamson, and I want to thank you for accepting this job. I'm not sure how much your father told you, but I would like to let you know right now that there's quite a hefty reward in it for you if you can capture these aerodactyl for us. The board of directors of this research facility have authorized a reward of one thousand dollars to anyone who can get these pokémon back for us. As you might imagine, the aerodactyl represent quite the financial investment, and no one wants to see that go to waste." Then, the smile on his face faded a bit as he added, "Also, no one wants to see these pokémon harm anyone while they are running loose."

It took Eve a minute to respond; she was trying to imagine receiving a thousand dollars just for catching a couple of pokémon. "Um, I wasn't expecting any sort of reward. That's a pleasant surprise. But really, if these pokémon are as dangerous as you say, then I'd be more than happy to help, reward or no reward. So how exactly did they escape in the first place?"

"Their enclosure was essentially a massive cage made out of a framework of reinforced steel," the scientist began. "It's actually out back, if you want to go see it. Anyway, it was plenty big to give the aerodactyl room to fly." This last part brought some questions to Eve's mind, since she still had no idea what these pokémon were like; now she knew that they could fly, but she decided to hold off on asking for more details until the story was through. "That should have been more than enough to hold them safely. However, we're still learning about them. We had no idea that they could learn hyper beam. One of them learned the attack and blasted a way out of their enclosure, and it's my guess that they're probably roosting on Mt. Mortar somewhere. As you might imagine, anything that can learn hyper beam is innately powerful; you'll definitely have to be careful."

"So what exactly do they look like?" Eve asked. "I think I might have heard of aerodactyl before, but to be honest, I really don't know anything about ancient pokémon."

The scientist began digging through a file in one of the drawers on his desk. "Ah, here we go. Here are some photographs." He pulled a manila folder out and spread its contents on the top of his very tidy desk. The photos depicted two large, winged pokémon. They had strong jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth; grey, rock-like skin; powerful talonless feet; and long, strong tails.

To Eve's horror, she recognized the beasts. Images flashed through her mind: human bodies crushed underneath the feet, people sent flying by the whipping of the muscular tail, and still others mutilated by a hyper beam as they fled.

She planted both of her hands on the desk in front of her, afraid that her knees might buckle without support. "Y-you actually resurrected something like this?" Eve asked, doing her best to hide the tremors in her voice.

Mr. Quick looked at her with concern. "Yes, we did. Are you feeling all right? You look rather ill."

Eve shook her head wordlessly. She recalled that Celebi had said that this giant grey monster had been killed off completely by humans. Now faced with the prospect of meeting not just one but two of them, she couldn't help but think that perhaps such an extermination had been justified. Based on what she remembered, she couldn't help but think that there was something wrong with a single pokémon having so much power. "I'll be all right," Eve said eventually. "I was just a little shocked to see what they really looked like, is all. Is there anything else that I need to know about these, um, aerodactyl?"

Despite the fact that this was literally a creature of her nightmares, Eve was more determined than ever to catch this pokémon. She didn't like to think about what might happen if it was allowed to roam free, especially with a city to both the east and west of their suspected roosting spot.

"Yes, actually, there are some things you should know," Mr. Swift replied. "Firstly, it might be useful to know its attacks, in case they are too territorial for you to talk to right away. One of them, as I mentioned, knows hyper beam. Both of them know supersonic, agility, wing attack, and bite; I think they may also be able to learn rock throw, now that they are in a terrain that provides the right materials for that sort of attack. I do not have pokéballs for them; we've been trying to raise them as naturally as possible, despite the fact that their enclosure is much smaller than the territory that they would have had back in the days of their existence. But I do have a number of ultra balls for you, if you deem that to be the best way to be bring the aerodactyl back. If you can, though, it'd be better if you could just convince them to fly back."

He handed her some ultra balls that he had in another of his drawers. Eve accepted them, and crammed them in next to the other pokéballs in her pokéball-carrying hip pouch. "That's all I need to know?"

The scientist nodded. "Yes, I think so, though if you need to ask me anything else, feel free to call my office number; your father gave that to you, correct?"

"Yeah," Eve said. "In that case, I think I'll go get prepared. I'll probably head out towards Mt. Mortar tomorrow, with some back up. I don't think I want to approach a pair of aerodactyl without anyone else around."

The scientist hesitated before saying, "All right, I suppose that's fine. Just be discreet about who you let in on this. It's a bit of a sensitive matter; as I said before, the general populace might panic if they hear of a large, carnivorous, ancient pokémon flying the skies of Johto."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next morning, Eve found herself hiking up Mt. Mortar with more people than she had originally intended to bring along. The first person whom she'd talked to – and who was along for the hike now – was Hope. Even though she hadn't received her seventh badge from Morty yet, she had agreed to come along.

Next in the group was Katsu, though Eve couldn't quite figure out why she had wanted to ask him along. Yet she had asked, and he had agreed, and so he was hiking up the mountain as well.

The last two in the group were the ones that Eve hadn't planned on bringing along: Cynthia and Jenna. They were already doing so much for the campaign, after all, and she thought it would be too suspicious if she, Cynthia and Jenna all disappeared for a day or two. But Jenna had overheard when Eve had explained the aerodactyl situation to Mark, and she had then insisted on coming along for the action. And once Jenna had asserted her way into the expedition, Cynthia said that she needed to come along. Mark would have joined them, but he needed to cover for the sudden gap in the campaign.

"So if Mark's abra was able to teleport us to the base of the mountain, why couldn't the stupid thing have just teleported us to the top instead?" Jenna whined as they climbed the side of the mountain; the slope was just steep enough to make the ascent difficult, but not so steep that they needed climbing gear to make progress.

"Because there's next to no cover up at the top of the mountain, and we don't want to be caught off guard by a pair of aerodactyl," Cynthia explained. "We've already gone over all this. That's also why none of us are riding any pokémon, though it would make the climb easier on us."

Though they'd only been climbing for an hour or so, Jenna looked rather pale from the exertion. She wasn't nearly as strong now as she had appeared back in the city. Even Cynthia, who was a good twenty years older than her, seemed less strained than Jenna. Eve would have asked what was wrong except for the fact that she was fairly sure that Jenna would rather battle than admit to any weakness.

"I just don't see why I can't just get on my charizard and draw the aerodactyl out of hiding. Flame could easily defeat both of them at once, even with me tagging along on her back." Jenna gasped out.

Eve started to say something, but she suddenly broke out into another fit of coughing. Between the exertion and the thinner air, the coughing seemed to be getting worse the higher up they went. If she'd been able to pass the coughing off as just a brief cold before, no one believed it now.

~Eve, you obviously aren't well,~ Basil said from Eve's shoulder. He was the only pokémon out at the moment. ~We should go back.~

Both Katsu and Cynthia seemed worried about the coughing, too, since it was obviously draining Eve's energy at an amazing pace. "Eve, are you sure you want to do this?" Katsu said. "You sound terrible."

"It sounds like you have a lung infection of some kind," Cynthia said. "You should probably have it looked at by a doctor."

Eve shook her head, catching her breath. "Really, I'll be fine. It's just a cough. I'm sure it'll go away sooner or later. But anyway, are we all clear on what we're going to do when the aerodactyl show up, if they do show up? I know both of you-" here she looked to Cynthia and Jenna "-are crazy strong, but I don't want to take any chances." She coughed briefly, then continued, "These things are incredibly fast, and their sheer size is enough that I think we've got to be careful."

"And how do you know that?" Hope asked. "You talk as if you know from experience."

Jenna grinned despite her exhaustion. "You know, I like this girl. I think she's onto something. Speaking of which, do I know you? What'd you say your name was?"

"Hope," Hope replied flatly. "And I did meet you briefly, some years ago."

Though still gasping for air due to the continued exertion, Jenna said, "Really? Where? And when?"

"I was the nine-year-old with the cubone in Lavender Town."

Eve's eyes opened a little wider. "Really? That was you? That case at Pokémon Tower was my second time working with Mark. We started dating just after that case. I miss those good old days. I don't know why I didn't recognize you sooner; you're obviously the same sad little girl you were back then. Anyway, back to the matter at hand." She looked back to Eve. "As Hope mentioned, I think you know a little more than you're telling us about the aerodactyl. And as I've said, my instincts don't lie. What're you hiding? If it can help us defeat the aerodactyl, then you ought to tell us."

Eve coughed and didn't try to restrain the fit this time; maybe it would buy her time to figure out what to say. "Well," she said, gasping for breath. "Um…" she didn't want to reveal the truth, but she felt backed into a corner; she knew just how bad aerodactyl were, yet she wasn't telling them everything. "Ah, whatever," she said, resigning herself to the fact that everyone in the group deserved to know what they were up against. "I've seen an aerodactyl before, and that's the truth."

Cynthia and Katsu perked up the most, but Jenna was the one to reply to this. "Oh? And how did you manage to see an aerodactyl before? Aren't they extinct?"

Eve sighed, though that quickly turned into another cough. It seemed there was no hiding the truth from Jenna's instincts. "I kinda went back in the past, as silly as it may sound. Ever heard of a pokémon named Celebi?"

Cynthia's eyes grew about as wide as pokéballs. "Really? And you're saying it actually took you back in time?" Eve nodded. "Amazing…"

"Is that what happened in Ilex forest?" Katsu said. "I was so worried when I saw your pokémon in the forest without you. You were with Celebi that whole time?"

Eve nodded.

Jenna grinned. "Man, you're just talking with legends all over the place. I ought to take you to meet Mespirit sometime; she sometimes deigns to come out of her cave to say hi to me." Suddenly the grin faded, and a scowl came to her exceedingly pale face. Katsu, Eve, and Cynthia saw that something was wrong, but they didn't mention it; so for a few tense moments, the group continued to walk on in silence, all eyes fixed on Jenna.

Finally, Jenna reached her limit. She suddenly sat down, closed her eyes, and laid her back against the mountainside, placing her hand to her chest as if her ailment originated there. "Damn it, Arceus, you've gotta do this right when I'm about to do something fun for once. I don't need another friggin' heart attack."

Cynthia quickly knelt down and felt Hope's pulse, while Eve's mouth practically fell open. "A heart attack? How can she be having a heart attack, Cynthia? She's in her twenties, isn't she?"

"You know, I'm still here," Jenna said, though she kept her eyes closed. "You don't need to talk about me like I'm gone. Anyway, let's just say that going up against a god that distorts space isn't the greatest way to keep yourself healthy. My pokémon could take the distortions… But my body wasn't strong enough, apparently. It's been screwing up ever since."

"That's the real reason I came with Jenna to Johto," Cynthia explained, seeing that there was no sense in hiding things anymore. "Neither I nor her husband can keep her from overexerting herself, but we can at least be there to help when it happens."

Keeping her eyes closed, Jenna moved her hand down to her pokéball-holding belt and opened the pokéball that she picked up. Jenna's charizard, Flame, appeared, and she looked down at her human concernedly when she realized what was happening. ~Jenna… Not again…~ Flame said, despite the fact that Jenna couldn't hear her. ~You know that this happens when you stress your body… Some common sense would serve you well.~

Cynthia likewise released one of her own pokémon, a togekiss. "I'll need to guide Flame back to the hospital. Can you guys handle the aerodactyl by yourself?"

"We'll manage somehow," Katsu said. "You just get Jenna to the hospital."

"I'm still here! You should talk like I'm here! Sheesh," Jenna said, irritated, as Cynthia helped her onto Flame. Her voice was weak, though. "I'll get to the hospital all right, no worries."

Cynthia didn't stall any longer, though she hadn't even secured Jenna to the charizard's back; apparently, she trusted the dragon to carry her trainer safely. Cynthia jumped onto her togetic's back, and in another moment they all had taken off.

However, the two humans on their respective flying had been in the air only a couple of seconds when Basil's suddenly tensed on Eve's shoulder. ~I hear another pair of wingbeats! And they're big wings!~

Fearing the worst, Eve looked into the sky as she told Hope and Katsu what Basil had said. Sure enough, she quickly caught sight of something huge flapping through the air, gaining altitude from its take-off position higher up on the mountain.

"Oh no," Eve said, quickly reaching down into her hip-pouch, pulling out Aiden's pokéball. "It's heading for Cynthia and Jenna. Flame won't be able to attack or maneuver much, and it probably won't be very easy for Togekiss and Cynthia to defend, either." She released Aiden from his pokéball, then had him lean down so that she could get on his back. And then, before she could even think about the fact she was leaving Hope and Katsu behind, she urged Aiden forward in a direction that would bring them closer to the flight path of the lone aerodactyl.

Aiden was incredibly fast; if not for the mountainous terrain and the obstacles, he just about would have matched the aerodactyl in speed. By the time they had come as close to the aerodactyl as they could by ground, the aerodactyl had halved the distance between it and its quarry; yet Cynthia, Flame, and Togekiss hadn't noticed yet.

"We've got to draw the aerodactyl's attention to us, or at least give Cynthia a little warning," Eve said as she clung to Aiden's back. The part of the mountain they were on now was barren and rocky, allowing for a perfect view of the whole situation. "Basil, do you think you can stand on Aiden's head and shoot a thunderbolt off at the aerodactyl? Aiden, you can take the electrical backlash, can't you?"

~Yes,~ both pokémon replied, getting in position as Aiden continued to try to keep pace with the aerodactyl.

"All right, then go! As powerful as you can!" Basil immediately shot off a thunderbolt, filled with the power that he had received the Raikou. Despite the distance, the attack hit its mark, and the aerodactyl dropped a little in sky before recovering from the shock. It screeched in rage and began to dive down towards Eve and her pokémon, and Eve saw that Cynthia had finally noticed what was going on. Yet as much as the Sinnoh Champion wanted to turn around and help, she couldn't; Flame wouldn't be able to take Jenna to the hospital without her guidance.

"Aiden, it looks intent on landing on us and crushing us," Eve said rapidly, turning her attention away from Cynthia and back to the Aerodactyl. "I've seen it happen before. Dodge at the last moment; that way we'll have it on the ground."

Aiden tensed himself, yet the aerodactyl didn't fall for the trap; it made its dive shallower so that it merely swooped overhead. As it passed by, it let off an ear-piercing screech that disoriented Eve and her pokémon.

She looked around, trying to focus her mind and force her double-vision away. "Supersonic. Not good." Basil and Aiden were both staggering where they stood, almost completely incapable of action. Their ears were much keener than Eve's, and they felt the effects of the supersonic even more than she did.

As bad as things seemed, confusion was a problem that Eve could actually do something about. She reached into her bag and pulled out her pokéflute, and played a quick but steady tune. The melody helped her pokémon to focus, and it rid them of the worst of the effects of the supersonic.

Yet by the time she'd managed this, the aerodactyl was swooping down again, aiming to hit them with its wings and body.

"Flamethrower!" Eve ordered frantically, knowing that they wouldn't be able to dodge in time. A jet of flames issued from the arcanine's maw. The aerodactyl let out a shriek of pain, yet its rocky body managed to repel the flames for the most part. It continued through the flames and crashed into arcanine, sending both him and his passenger's sprawling. Then the aerodactyl winged its way back into the sky, preparing for another attack.

Eve coughed as she pushed herself off the ground, her head to spinning; maybe the cough was harming her more than she had suspected. Yet now wasn't the time to dwell on that. She pushed herself to her knees and looked up to see that the aerodactyl was diving straight for her.

~Human!~ the aerodactyl screamed as he dived. ~I'll kill you!~

Eve was shocked by the outrage with which the aerodactul said this. _He was raised by humans, wasn't he? Did they treat him so badly that he has reason to act like this? Or is it the mere fact that he is an aerodactyl, and inherently aggressive towards humans?_

Whatever the case, what mattered most was staying alive; but Eve was still on her knees, and she knew she couldn't get out of the way in time.

Thankfully for her, both Basil and Aiden had recovered more quickly, and now a thunderbolt came from off to Eve's right, hitting the aerodactyl dead-on.

The aerodactyl shrieked again, more injured by this attack than it had been by Aiden's flames. He flapped back upwards, trying to get out of the pikachu's range.

Eve took this chance to stand all the way up and grab another of her pokéballs, though she didn't want to bring out either Hannah or Blight unless one of her two active pokémon became unable to battle. Trying to keep tabs on and order around two pokémon was plenty for Eve to handle, and she didn't want to think about how chaotic the situation would become with the addition of more pokémon.

As she tried to judge what to do next, the calls of two pokémon bombarded her ears, creating an uncomfortable dissonance of sound. The first was the familiar howl of Hope's houndoom, and Eve turned to see the houndoom in question running across the bare landscape of the mountain, laboring beneath the weight of both Katsu and Hope. Her howl sounded exhausted and full of pain; though she had the strength to carry two people, the slope of the mountain and the sharp blades of rock complicated the situation.

The other cry that Eve heard came from the sky near the peak of the mountain. Though she heard it at the same time as the howl, she turned to it's source second, dreading what she would see there. When she looked up, her suspicion was confirmed: the second aerodactyl was approaching, aiming for Katsu and Hope.

"Basil, thunderbolt!" Eve said as this new aerodactyl, a female, continued to dive. The attack hit, though it wasn't quite as strong as it had been before; Basil was getting tired from maintaining the barrage of electric attacks.

The female aerodactyl flew back upwards toward the male. This time, neither of the flying pokémon dove down to attack again. Not immediately, at least. Instead, Eve noticed a change in their movements; the flapping seemed more graceful and fluid all of a sudden, and they used the winds to their advantage. This change sped them up drastically, so when they swooped down again, Eve hardly had time to realize that they were using this amazing speed to dive straight towards her.

Hope was the one who came to the rescue now. She had sent out her sneasel while the second aerodactyl had recovered from Basil's thunderbolt. As soon as the duo was within range, Hope called for an icy wind attack. Sneasel obliged, sending out a powerful breath of air so cold that ice crystals formed within the gust.

Whether due to the strength of the attack or the type advantage, the aerodactyl seemed even more phased by this than they had been by the electric attacks. Their wings began to ice over, and they both shrieked in pain and panic. They tried to pull up again to avoid the icy wind, but this time in vain. They managed to avoid a complete nosedive, but they couldn't keep themselves from crashing into the mountainside not ten feet away from Eve.

Katsu was the one to assure that the aerodactyl didn't rise to attack again; he quickly called forth Snivy and Totodile, and the two positioned themselves on the necks of the aerodactyl, poised to strike if either struggled.

For a few moments, everyone remained frozen in place, as if adjusting to the turn of events. The aerodactyl were too near fainting to resist much, and Eve was too lost in her thoughts to actually catch the aerodactyl, as was her job.

Finally, Katsu spoke up. "Eve, don't you think you should catch the aerodactyl so we can leave?"

Nodding dumbly, Eve walked slowly over so that she was just a few feet in front of the aerodactyl. She was still very stunned by the course of the battle. After all, these were the creatures that had haunted her nightmares for well over a month. Yet here they were now, grounded and essentially helpless.

Quietly, as if afraid of startling the wounded aerodactyl, Eve said to them, "I could just catch you now, but… The researchers want me to see if I can convince you to come back on your own, back to-"

But Eve couldn't finish her sentence. The female's eyes suddenly went wild with a mix of bloodlust and fear; and with the energy born of desperation, she sprung upwards and got her legs beneath her. She flung off Snivy in the process, who didn't the time to react and deal the blow that would have knocked the aerodactyl out. In another fraction of a second, the female had slammed her tail into Totodile; his jaws had been around the male aerodactyl's neck, and he took a large chunk of rocky skin with him as he was sent flying.

The male screamed in pain, but he followed the female's example and got on his feet. Though injured, the aerodactyl had retained their previous speed; all of this had happened in only a couple seconds.

Then – the rage and fear still motivating them – the pair of aerodactyl lunged for Eve.

Aiden was faster, though, his own movements fueled by his blind loyalty to Eve. He jumped into the path of the two aerodactyl. The male latched his powerful jaws onto one of the arcanine's forelegs, but the female tried to go over Aiden's back, her single-minded fury focused solely on Eve.

Eve frantically backed up, scared now more than ever as the female aerodactyl's maw snapped shut barely two feet from her face.

And now Aiden, too, was in a rage and panic, scared to death that the female would get past him while the male's bite held him in place. Without thinking, he sent a fire attack straight into the aerodactyl's face, with an intensity that made it more probably a fire blast than the flamethrower that had previously been the strongest attack he could manage. The attack seared even his own flame-retardant fur, but it accomplished its purpose. The rocky skin on the aerodactyl's face tightened and charred, and his eyes and the softer gums of his mouth all but withered in the searing heat. His grip relaxed as death overcame him.

Despite his heavily injured leg, Aiden now whipped around to attack the female, who was trying to get her half-frozen body to cooperate as she tried to maneuver around the arcanine. Aiden didn't let her get far. He dove directly for her weakest point, flames leaking from his jaws as he bit down on the long neck. A horrible snap sounded through the crisp mountain air, and the female aerodactyl collapsed. Yet due, perhaps, to some unique aspect of aerodactyl anatomy, the break didn't kill her.

In fact, her collapse didn't even seem to be a result of the injury. Her previous rage had drained, and her energy had faded with it. Now unable to even lift her head, she was absolutely hopeless. ~But my chick… My egg…~ she keened. ~I wanted to raise it where it would be able to fly… Outside of that cage…~

Sorrow filled Eve, but she tried to force the twinge of regret that was growing in her mind. She was beginning to realize that she was the one in the wrong. _Of course, the aerodactyl would have been miserable in any sort of cage… Even pidgey need a territory of at least a square mile or so. And they had a chick… Admittedly, they were the ones to attack first, but we were in their territory… Aiden killed them to protect me, so maybe there wasn't another way. But it's still sad._

"You have an egg?" Eve asked, crouching down. The researchers had never mentioned an egg. They probably hadn't realized. "If you want, I can take it. I'll-"

~No!~ the aerodactyl said, trying to lift her head, but shrieking in pain before her head could get even an inch off the ground. ~We left so that I could get it away from those humans! My mate and I grew up with that, grew up without true flight, grew up with humans constantly around. We wanted our chick away from that! Away from humans!~

"The chick will die if its egg is left unguarded for long," Eve said. The aerodactyl didn't answer, but instead let out another mourning keen. "But if you tell me where it is, I'll… I can raise it, or I can at least try. I'll get another pokémon to teach it to fly, and I'll let it be on her own once it wants to leave. Or I could capture you. You probably don't know what that is, but it would let me take you somewhere to be healed, if that's possible."

But the aerodactyl continued her keening, and refused to answer.

~Eve…~ Basil said, rubbing comfortingly against Eve's leg. ~She's already gone. The broken neck isn't enough to kill her, but she won't be able to heal. And even if she could, her spirit is broken more wholly than her neck. You know it, and she knows it.~

Hope walked over and joined Eve, her sneasel at her feet. "Sneasel," she said. It wasn't a command, but Sneasel seemed to know exactly what Hope wanted. Before Eve could protest, Sneasel had thrust one of his claws into the back of the aerodactyl's head, right at the base of the neck.

Sneasel withdrew his bloodied claw casually, and a shudder passed through the aerodactyl's body. Then her body went limp, and her mourning ceased.

"I don't know what it was saying," Hope said, "But she was already dead. Sneasel just helped her body catch up to reality."

Katsu looked at Hope in horror. "But she was still alive. The broken neck was painful, but it wasn't killing it. You heard what Eve said – maybe we could have taken it back to a pokémon center and had it healed. You can't just _kill_ like that."

Hope shrugged in response.

Part of Eve agreed with what Katsu was trying to say, yet at the same time, she knew that what Basil had said had been accurate. The aerodactyl's spirit had been broken, and there was nothing a pokémon center could do to heal something like that.

But Eve didn't let her mind dwell on that matter. There was something more important for her to think about.

"I'm going to look for the aerodactyl's egg," Eve said. "Aiden, I'd ask you to help with your good sense of smell, but your leg is too injured. You're going back into your pokéball until we get back to a pokémon center."

Aiden was about to protest, but then he leaned down and sniffed at the wounded leg. It was cut and torn from the aerodactyl's teeth, bruised and sore from pressure of the jaws, and burnt from his own fire attack. He whined a little bit, consenting, and so Eve recalled him to his pokéball.

~You know, I can help you find it,~ Houndoom said; Hope hadn't recalled her to her pokéball yet, even though she had been too tired to help with the battle. ~That is, if you can convince Hope to let me.~

Eve looked to Hope. "Houndoom wants to help. She might be able to smell out where the aerodactyl have been nesting. Would you like to come along, so that she can help me? And Katsu, do you want to come?"

Hope shrugged. "I might as well."

"I'll come, too," Katsu said.

Eve nodded her head in thanks, then gestured for Houndoom to take the lead.

_This situation is already sad enough… I just hope we can find the egg before something else does._

* * *

So all told, I finished 3 chapters over my thanksgiving break, which is a huge success for me. ^_^ Especially considering that I'd estimate it takes at least five hours per chapter to write and edit (I'd guess closer to six or seven hours usually, though). So even if I don't have much time in the coming weeks, I'll at least be stocked until Christmas Break. And just an FYI, the coming two chapters were originally going to be one, though I've known for a while now that I'd have to stretch it out into two... Not like it really matters. That's just how it is. They're two of my favorite chapters, to be honest; the first gets into some philosophy, which is always fun, and the second is pretty darn gruesome, which is even more fun. As horrible as that sounds, it's true. :-)

Can't really think of much else to say... So, as always, thanks for reading!

P.S. - I've heard that it's 'pokémon profile pic' month on facebook. Just so you know. I actually put Jaroda as my profile pic a few days ago without knowing what December was, so I'm already covered. ^_^

EDIT: Please, PLEASE let me know when I make really stupid embarrassing typos! I didn't realize until two weeks after this was first posted that I accidentally substituted Katsu's name with Mark's once. That's something I'd prefer to correct as soon as possible. I understand if you don't want to bother with every single grammatical and spelling error, but stuff like that is annoying for me to find out about, especially after nearly forty people have read the chapter.


	21. The Serpent

**Chapter Twenty-One: The Serpent**

"Do you think we could stop here for today?" Eve asked, shifting her newly obtained egg in its impromptu sling as she tried to shelter it from the miserable drizzle that fell from the sky. "I mean, I know it's only mid-afternoon and all… But I'm feeling kind of light-headed. I think it's the cough. I just need to rest a while. If you two wanted, you could go on ahead."

Eve, Katsu and Hope had camped halfway up the mountainside the previous night after finishing their long but successful egg hunt. The egg had been difficult to find, due in part to the dull grey-brown color that had camouflaged it against the mountain. Yet when they finally had found it, the egg had been unmistakable. Not only had the aerodactyl scent been so strong that even Eve had recognized it, but the egg was so huge – nearly two feet tall – that it could hardly have belonged to any other pokémon.

After finding the egg, Eve had called the aerodactyl researcher back and lied to him as best as she could, saying that there had been no sign whatsoever of aerodactyl on the mountain. She was afraid that if he looked into things on Mt. Mortar anymore – and that included grabbing the dead aerodactyl bodies for more research – then he might come upon the abandoned nest and put two and two together. And no matter what, Eve wanted to make sure that the mother's wish to keep the chick away from a cage was honored.

Since Katsu, Hope, and Eve had ended up on the eastern side of the mountain due to the egg hunt, they had decided to cautiously make their way down to Mahogany Town rather than immediately make the journey back to Ecruteak. Their progress had been slowed greatly, however, due to several things. Eve's health, the added burden of the egg, and the constant drizzle had all played their part in slowing down their journey.

"If you're stopping, then I don't mind waiting to get to Mahogany Town, and I'm sure Hope surely doesn't mind, either," Katsu said. "And here seems as good a spot as any to stop. Look over there – it seems as if we've reached the Lake of Rage. It's the largest lake in Johto, if I'm not mistaken."

Sure enough, as the small group made their way out of the trees, they found themselves at the edge of a massive lake. It wasn't anything too remarkable. Other than its clarity, and the tops of trees that were poking out of the water, it didn't seem particularly unique in any way.

As Eve looked at the lake, her head started to spin more violently than before, forcing her to sit down in the mud at the base of a lakeside tree. Yet she could sense that this sudden faintness wasn't due solely to her current state of physical weakness. A separate feeling was flowing through her and causing her dizziness, a sensation so strange to her that she wasn't quite sure how to describe it.

"Eve, are you all right?" Katsu asked, concern in his eyes as he watched Eve sit herself down. "You know, if you need to, Hope could take you down to Mahogany on her houndoom's back. I can make my way back on my own. You really don't look well."

Eve shook her head. "No, it's all right. I just feel kind of odd. I don't want to inconvenience the two of you. If you two won't go on without me, then at least go off and train or something so that you're not wasting your time. Besides, I really think I just need to rest for a bit."

"Rest here? In the rain? With only a tree for cover?" Katsu said. "You'll make yourself even sicker. And if you're not feeling well enough to travel, then you probably ought to have someone here to watch your back. Not like I think anything would happen here, since we're out in the middle of nowhere and since most pokémon don't bother you… it's common sense more than anything."

"Since when did you become my mother?" Eve asked, smiling a bit. "This tree is plenty of cover for me. I don't feel any water dripping on me, and the ground's dry around the roots at the base here. And I'll just let out Hannah once you're gone, and she can keep an eye out for me. She's a grass-type, so she likes the rain anyway. Really, I just need some time to rest."

Crossing his arms, Katsu said, "Well, if you're sure… Admittedly, I haven't had much of a chance to train lately. Hope, do you want to train? That is, if you don't mind staying out in the rain for a while longer."

Hope looked down at her sopping clothes as if that was answer enough. "I'm already wet. It won't matter if I stay wet. And I always want to train."

Katsu still seemed unsure about the arrangement, but he didn't argue anymore. "All right, then. Eve, we'll be back in a couple of hours, before dark. Are you sure you don't want me to at least take the egg so that you don't have to worry about it?"

"It'll be fine," Eve said, holding back a cough; she didn't want Katsu to change his mind. "Good luck with the training."

But even once Katsu and Hope were gone, Eve didn't let out Hannah or any of her other pokémon. She just sat there, holding the aerodactyl egg in its homemade sling and trying to throw off the odd feeling that was flowing through her. The feeling was like the tenseness of frustration mixed with hopeless sorrow and irrational hate.

Strange as it was, Eve was able to recognize the sensation. She'd felt it many times when she'd been younger, and she'd seen it often enough since then that it wasn't too difficult to see its effects in herself.

_But why would I be feeling anger? I haven't been angry at anything or anyone for years… Why now?_

Her recognition of the feeling of anger made the sensation even stranger, partly because her thoughts remained completely free of any anger while her body was shaking with a feeling of absolute rage. She was clenching her teeth and her fists, her body was shaking with fury, and she wanted to shout out her unexpected wrath for the world to hear; but her mind wasn't angry _at_ anything, which only added fear and confusion into Eve's strange emotional state.

~Are you feeling the rage of the lake?~ a voice called out to Eve, interrupting but not stopping the anger within her. She looked around for a few moments before her eyes finally came upon a pokémon who was poking his head out of the lake just a few feet in front of her.

Though Eve couldn't see much of the pokémon in the rain, she could easily tell that this was a pokémon the likes of which she had never seen before. Beneath the water, she could see the shadow of a long, serpentine body following his head; the only pokémon comparable was an ekans, but this body seemed a good bit longer than even the largest ekans Eve had ever seen. The mystery pokémon's face was simple but unique, consisting of big, black, curious eyes; dainty little fin-like protrusions coming from the sides of his head; a very round, creamy-white thing that seemed to be a snout, except for the lack of any obvious mouth; and a little gray bump poking out of his gray-blue forehead.

His voice, too, was very different from the barking and growling that Eve was used to hearing from pokémon. It was more of a gentle, vibrating hum that Eve found reminiscent of human speech. And something about how he had phrased his original question seemed halfway between the dialects of normal pokémon and of the Great Ones that Eve had met.

The pokémon was so strange that Eve promptly forgot his question. Even the anger seemed to fade for a second as her curiosity got the better of her. Her eyes focused on perhaps the most insignificant of details, she asked, "Do you have a pebble stuck in your forehead or something?"

The grey-blue pokémon tilted his head momentarily, then swam the rest of the way up to the bank, though he stayed in the water. Rather than answer Eve's question, he said, ~You're an interesting human. I never thought I'd meet an interesting human. You carry a pokémon egg, and you seem like a pokémon. And the rage of the lake is entering you. Most humans never even notice the rage, and pokémon usually notice it without it affecting them. Yet you don't act angry, even though the rage of the lake is in you. So why don't you act angry? Maybe I'm just misreading my instinct… Are you tense because of something else other than the lake? Is it just the cold that makes you shake as if you are furious?~

Eve looked down at her arms to see that they were indeed shaking. And as the serpent had said, it was more because of the strange anger that had welcomed itself into Eve's body. "I'm a little cold, I guess, but I'm scared more than anything. I feel angry, but I don't know why. And I _never_ feel angry." She unconsciously clenched her hands tighter and felt her fingernails cut into her skin as the anger surged within her. Yet she couldn't release the tension from her fingers for fear that the anger would release itself in some other way.

_This feels so wrong… Like the anger might just overwhelm me and take control of my actions. _

~That would be the effect of the lake on you, as I said before,~ the serpent said. ~Have you ever heard the story of how this lake was formed?~

Eve shook her head, afraid that if she opened her mouth she might start shouting or crying. Or shouting _and _crying. The rage in her was powerful enough that she wasn't sure what she might do.

~Some time in the past, a human was fishing just south of that mountain,~ the serpent said as he began the story, gesturing to Mt. Mortar with the tip of his tail. His humming voice was soothing, and it helped Eve to push back some of the anger. For the moment, at least, her trembling stopped and she was able to unclench her fists.

The pokémon continued, ~This fisherman was greedy, and he used his nets to catch all of the magikarp that swam near the surface of the river that flowed from beneath the mountain. Of all the magikarp in the river, only seven were strong enough to swim to the bottom of the river and avoid the nets. So while their friends were being caught in the nets, these seven stayed at the bottom of the river and hid.

~When these seven magikarp felt it was safe and decided to go back to the surface of the river, they saw that all of their friends were gone. They flew into a rage, angered that the human would do something so terrible. Their anger gave them power, and they evolved into gyarados and came out of the river. Their friends were already dead from being out of the water for too long, and when the gyarados saw this, their rage grew. The fisherman was afraid, so he left everything behind and ran into the forest that used to be south of this lake. The gyarados followed, slowed but not stopped by the trees in their way.

~They demolished everything in the path of their pursuit. Humans eventually used the ground they cleared as the site for the town that is just south of here, but that is beside the point. The gyarados followed the fisherman east and then north, into the forest that used to flourish in this area. It is here that they caught up to the human and cornered him, and it is here that they let loose their full wrath. They used hyper beams and blasts of water to completely destroy the human, but in the process they destroyed the forest around them and created a massive crater in the land. Then they danced for rain, to wipe all traces of the human from the earth in a final act of spite.

~But one of the gyarados refused to join in the rain dance. He regretted what they had done, and saw the destruction he had helped to cause. While the others put all of their energy into the rage that fueled the rain, this gyarados mourned for what they had done. And when the other gyarados had used all their energy and died, he stayed to live in the lake they had created. All the magikarp in this lake are descended from him. And it's because of his refusal to join the rain dance that about once every seven days, the sun will shine and give life a chance reclaim this land.~

Almost as soon as the serpent's tale was finished, the rage flooded back into Eve's body, even stronger than it had been before. Though she had questions, she clenched her teeth and didn't say a word. If she opened her mouth, she knew that she'd simply end up yelling at this odd pokémon for no real reason.

The pokémon seemed to sense what her problem was. ~That story explains why rage always covers this lake, but it doesn't explain why it's affecting you so much. Maybe it's because you're both human and pokémon? But I find that unlikely… I've lived in this lake for a long time, and neither human nor pokémon has acted as you do now. You mentioned earlier that you haven't felt angry in a long time. Maybe all the anger you've held back is being provoked by the ambiance of the lake. If that's the case, then talking things out might prove helpful. Would you like to confide in me?~

Eve nodded her head, but was still afraid to open her mouth and actually do what she was agreeing to.

The pokémon yet again seemed to sense the trouble Eve was having. Without asking if it was okay, he slid out of the water and coiled his body around Eve and the egg in her lap. His thick body was over seven feet long, and even though his coils were loose, he managed to wrap himself up to Eve's shoulders. She was so completely encased by the pokémon's muscular body that she would have panicked had he not already proven himself to be more curious than malicious.

The serpent was still wet, but the heat of his body comforted Eve and she soon found herself able to relax enough to speak. "I'm upset about the fact that I helped to kill this egg's parents. And I suppose I must be angry at my father after the conversation we had the other day."

~But those things sound like they are recent troubles, and I think whatever is affecting you must have been dwelling in you for a little longer. You also feel that you couldn't have done much to avoid them. Correct?~

Eve nodded; if not for the fact that she was still repressing the anger of the lake, she would have been amazed at the pokémon's perceptivity.

~What is it that you're really worrying about, then? What problem is the rage of the lake using to worm its way into you? What is it that you have kept yourself from being angry about?~

At the serpent's words, Eve tensed and accidentally bit down on her tongue. The anger had changed. Now, her own anger – anger that she hadn't thought she'd been capable of – joined the foreign rage of the lake. She naturally choked it back; even though she was feeling it for the first time in years, she still wasn't capable of expressing it.

"Part of it is that I don't know what I am anymore, and that scares me," Eve said after she had regained some control over herself. "I've always thought I was a human, and I was happy with that. Now I've been told that I'm essentially a pokémon. It doesn't seem possible that I'm actually a pokémon, because I don't look like a pokémon and I can't live like a pokémon does. But I can't feel natural in human company now because I'm afraid that I really am a pokémon, and I'm angry about that because I feel like I should be more human than pokémon."

The serpent let out a comforting hum; because of how he was wrapped around Eve's body, she felt the vibration all the way down to her bones. ~Now we're making progress. As you say, you're worried about whether you're a human or a pokémon. The way I see it, you're a mix of both. Even if you seem like a pokémon, there's no denying that you talk and look like a human.~

"So you're saying I fit in with neither humans or pokémon?" Eve asked. "That only makes me feel worse."

~No, that's not what I'm saying,~ the serpent replied. ~All I mean is that you have no precedent as to what you are or what you should be. What does how you are labeled matter? If I told you right now that you were half monster, would it change your identity as who you are? You'd still be the same person, wouldn't you?~

Eve scowled slightly, both confused and comforted. "I'm not sure exactly what you mean… but I think I get the general idea. I'll need to think on it some more…"

The pokémon hummed contentedly. ~Thinking will help things, even if you come to different conclusions. Now what else is causing you anger?~

"I feel like I have no control over what I'm doing," Eve said through clenched teeth, her anger spiking again. "I've been told that I have to do something important… But it almost feels like I'm being drawn to do that something. I mean, it's happened really directly once before, when I literally didn't have any choice but to follow some instinct that was pulling me onward." This had happened when she'd been pulled to Burned Tower to meet with Enteir, Raikou, and Suicune. "Ever since then, something in me has been telling me that I have to do this something, even if I don't want to."

The serpent made an amused noise. ~If you want to talk about Fate, then why don't you ask them about the currents?~ The serpent pointed with the tip of his tail, and Eve suddenly noticed five magikarp poking their heads out of the lake to listen to the conversation.

Apparently, they had heard the serpent's suggestion, for the closest magikarp began to talk as soon as Eve looked over. ~Yes, that sounds exactly like us in the currents. From the moment we're born, we can only choose our own path when the water is completely still. Even the small currents of this lake are too much for most of us to handle. We're born unable to choose our own way.~

~But we don't let it bother us,~ another magikarp said. ~Many of us allow the current to sweep us away, and we find happiness in the fact that if we end up somewhere, then surely we are meant to be there. And then there are those among us who struggle against the current their entire lives. But even those magikarp welcome the current, because only by fighting the current can they become stronger and have a chance at evolving into a gyarados.~

A third magikarp, the smallest of the group, piped up. ~The hardest part isn't seeing that the current is there. It's trying to decide if you'll seek the happiness of being carried along or the glory of fighting the current.~

All the magikarp heartily agreed, doing weak little jumps out of the water as if to emphasize the point.

Eve actually managed a smile at the enthusiasm of the magikarp. Her anger was finally fading. These were topics that she hadn't even talked about with Basil, and she could now see just how much it had been hurting her to hold it all in.

But there was still one last thing weighing on her mind. This time, she didn't wait for the serpent's prompting.

"Whether there's such a thing as Fate or not," Eve began, much calmer now than she had been earlier, "it still seems as if I will have some choice to make, and that it will be an important choice." _At the very least, that's what the Legendary Beasts and Ho-oh seem to think. _"If I'm understanding things correctly, it'll be a matter of life and death for many, humans and pokémon alike. I'm angry because it doesn't seem right for me to be who defines what's right and what's wrong, especially when death is concerned."

~Of course it doesn't seem right. Whatever situation you think you're in, you aren't the one determining truth. Truth can't be based on how any individual – or, for that matter, group of individuals – interprets the world. If that were the case and you were determining truth, then I'd have a pebble stuck in my forehead. That would be silly. And it can't be that there's no truth, because saying that there's no truth is a truth unto itself. So that means that there must be some truth in the world; if you're going to have to make a life-and-death decision one day, then you'll just have to find what that truth is.~

Within the coils of the serpent, Eve hugged the aerodactyl egg even tighter. "But how do I do that? How am I supposed to figure out what's truly the right choice?"

Perhaps sensing that his job was done, the pokémon slid away from Eve and then re-coiled his body next to her. ~That's for you to find on your own. I've told you just about all the truth I've managed to find in my lifetime.~

"And how long has your lifetime been?" Eve asked. She could still feel the anger of the lake inside her, but it had faded enough that she was curious about who this wise pokémon was.

~By human standards? I think eighty years or so.~

Eve's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You seemed so smart, so I figured you were older than me… But eighty years? Really? You don't strike me as old for whatever kind of pokémon you are."

~That's because I'm not,~ the serpent said. ~I'm still a child. I haven't even had my first evolution yet, and that's something that inevitably comes with age. When I hatched, my mother told me that she was over six hundred years old. She told me that she wouldn't really be old until she was eight hundred.~

"Wow…" Eve said. "A lot of humans don't live to be as old as you are now… And knowing the pokémon I'll be meeting in the near future, I doubt I'll live that long." This last sentence was only partly a joke, since she was fairly sure that there was a good chance that Ho-oh would kill her if they ever met. "Do you mind if I ask you another question?"

Suddenly, the serpent jerked his head up, his ear-like fins quivering. ~Wait a moment, please. Try to listen for something in the rain.~

It seemed important to the pokémon, so Eve sat in silence for some five minutes, listening closely to the drizzle as it fell, the drops drumming constantly on the lake and the ground and the trees. Then, finally, she heard a distinct sound from the south side of the lake. It was unmistakably the cry of a pokémon in intense pain. And even before that cry ended, another cry of another pokémon took its place. And then another… and another. Soon, the air seemed filled with the pain-filled cries of all sorts of pokémon.

Eve was damp already, and a sudden chilling breeze whistled from the lake into the trees, blowing rain into her previously sheltered spot. Goosebumps rose on her arms, but that was due only in part to the cold. She tried to say something, but sputtered and coughed as a gust of wind and rain blew into her face.

Finally, she found herself able to speak. "What's going on?" Eve asked. "Is something happening to the pokémon here?"

The serpent slithered dolefully back into the water. ~Yes, something is happening. Humans are attempting to find truth. But I leave it up to you to choose whether or not to find out what their truth is, and to determine if it is actual truth. Good luck.~ With that closing sentiment, the serpent submerged himself beneath the increasingly restless surface of the lake; and the five magikarp followed him, as if to escape the tempest that was stirring.

For Eve, the choice that the serpent had left her was really no choice at all. Almost as soon as he had dove under the water, Eve had felt the agitation of the Lake of Rage come back to her almost as strong as before, and this anger was goaded to even greater heights by the pained cries of pokémon.

_I have to find out what's happening to those pokémon!_

She hastily undid the egg's sling from her body and summoned Hannah from her pokéball. "Hannah, listen to me. I'm not sure what's going on, but it feels like something bad. I can hear pokémon in pain. I need you to stay here and take care of the egg while I go see what's going on. On second thought, let me leave Aiden's pokéball with you, as well. If you need some help protecting the egg, just press the button on the ball; even with a wounded leg, Aiden will be able to help."

~Eve, what's going on?~ Hannah asked, looking concerned. ~You feel… Angry. This whole place feels angry. But you never get angry. And it seems like you're rushing into something that's dangerous with only Blight and Basil to help you.~

Eve clenched her fists and bit back the anger that wanted her to yell at Hannah for questioning her judgment. "Basil and Blight will be enough to help me if I get into trouble. And I get the feeling that someone is doing something to the pokémon that are in pain, and if that's the case-" she cut herself off and tried to fight off the rage that was directing her words. It took some effort, but eventually she calmed herself enough to say, "I'll be fine. I just need to find out what's going on and if there's anything I can do to help the pokémon. After all, if they're injured, I at least have some training from working at pokémon centers. No matter what you do, just don't leave the egg by itself. I couldn't stand it if something happened to the chick."

Hannah's leaf perked up a little at this command. ~If it's that important, then I promise I'll protect it. But please be careful.~

"I will!" Eve said just before dashing off around the shore of the lake, measuring her pace so that she didn't cough too terribly much.

She slowed to a fast walk after the first couple of minutes, though the growing anger urged her to speed up rather than slow down. As she came nearer and nearer to the southernmost point of the lake, the cries of the pokémon became louder and louder; if not for the coughing fits that cropped up every time she tried to speed up, these shrieks would have spurred Eve to an exhausting pace.

When Eve finally caught sight of something through the rain, it didn't occur to her that it might be a smart idea to hide behind a tree to assess the situation. Nor did she think to call out Basil or Blight so that she would have a pokémon with her in the event of an emergency. Her agitation was too great to allow her to plan ahead that much. Instead, she burst out into the lakeside clearing and slid to a stop.

Only then did she see what she was getting herself into.

* * *

So hopefully you understood what the serpent was... I don't think it's too hard to figure out. If you still don't know for some reason, then you'll find out next chapter.

And this was my attempt at some philosophy... I'm pretty sure my Catholic education was showing there a little. Silly subjectivism... you make no sense. ^_^ Although that's the only part that I pretty much stole from my religion classes. The other points are somewhat contrary to stuff I've learned in class... The subjectivism bit just seemed to fit in with the story enough to use it. Oh, and the whole "~It's trying to decide if you'll seek the happiness of being carried along or the glory of fighting the current~" is definitely stolen from a similar line about Fate in an anime called Princess Tutu which (despite its name) is something that I'd suggest to any anime lover. Really, it's amazing. The fandom nicknames it Guitar Ninjas; it's just that awesome.

And after writing this chapter (and the next) I'm quite tired of words like anger, rage, wrath, etc... There are only so many words you can use to describe anger, and I'm pretty sure I exhausted all of them thoroughly.

Let's see... What else is there to say... Um, Eve now has an aerodactyl egg. That should be fun to lug around for however many chapters it takes to hatch...

Oh, and I'm feeling somewhat accomplished... Even though I'm still only getting the occasional review (and thanks again to those of you who review), it seems like quite a few people are reading this. For each of the last few chapters, I've had around 30 visitors read them in the week after its released. Considering how many options people have for stories in the pokémon fandom, I consider that an accomplishment.

So... yeah. I'm in a weird mood tonight, I guess. I'm just sort of writing down random thoughts now... So as long as I'm at it: Everyone should play the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, because they're amazing (I just replayed through Explorers of the Sky) and they make me cry every time. And everyone should also go see the movie Tangled (if it's out where you live) because it's just that awesome. I loved it so much.

And I think I'll end with that. :-)


	22. Rage

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Rage**

From her spot at the edge of the clearing, Eve saw twenty or so people standing in a loose circle, none of whom seemed to notice her. Some were women, but most of them were men, ranging in age from Eve's age to around fifty. Each of them had a pokémon or two standing in front of them, aggressively hemming in a small collection of weaker wild pokémon.

Not one of them seemed to be bothered by the growing intensity of the wind and the rain. If anything, they seemed to grow more energized with every gust that pushed them and every drop that fell on them.

"Matt, grab that wooper," Eve heard one of the people say; the wind was blowing straight at her, and it carried the voice along with it. The person in question was a man of about thirty years with bright red hair. He was taller than anyone else in the group, and judging by his authoritative demeanor, he was probably the leader. "And Alexa, call out your ivysaur and raticate. We're ready for the sixth and final sacrifice of the ceremony."

_Sixth sacrifice?_ Eve thought with horror, temporarily frozen in her spot. Her eyes scanned the clearing, dreading what she might find; eventually, her gaze fell upon the very edge of the lake, where five pokémon lay motionless as the waves hit their bodies.

Eve's horror only grew as her eyes turned back to the group of humans, all of whom were too intent on the wooper to notice her. They had made a new circle around the little blue pokémon while they left their trained pokémon to guard the rest of the wild pokémon.

As Eve watched, one of the women took out two pokéballs and summoned an ivysaur and a raticate, both of whom immediately focused in on the wooper with murder in their eyes. Apparently, these two pokémon were experienced with whatever this terrible ceremony was; before their trainer had even given a command, they began to attack the wooper with a ferocity that frightened Eve. She was so appalled that even the rage in her was overridden by the dread that petrified her.

Eve watched as the raticate tore into the wooper with its teeth, and she watched as the ivysaur beat it with vines and cut it with leaves. And though the two together could have easily killed the wooper in seconds, they instead made sure that the damage they inflicted was not fatal.

The wooper screamed again and again, a pitiful sound made all the more terrible by the blood that soon began to enter his lungs. And as the two aggressors continued their barrage of attacks, the humans entered into a low chant. The constant gusts of wind and drumming of rain drowned out most of the chant, so Eve couldn't pick out the words.

Finally, after some ten minutes of the humans' chanting and the wooper's screaming, the red-haired man let his voice rise above the noise. "Let it be finished."

At this command, the raticate pounced, sinking his long teeth into the wooper's soft chest. The wooper let out one last, pained scream before the life left its body.

The humans stayed in their circle and the chanting became loud enough that Eve could have understood what they were saying. But as soon as the wooper had died, the spell of shock and fear that had settled upon her broke, and she no longer felt the need to understand what these humans were saying. Her own anger began to grow within her, yet even now this wasn't enough to actually drive her to act on it. She still simply stood there, helpless in the face of such cruelty.

Then the rage of the lake flooded using her own anger as a channel, filling her more completely than it had when she'd been talking with the serpent. The fury completely overwhelmed her, and this time she could do nothing to hold it back. The anger was so great that she couldn't even think about _wanting _to hold it back. Her whole being was made of wrath, and that wrath was focused on one thing, and one thing only: the man who gave the orders for the wooper's death.

Eve shouted out her fury and charged towards the red-haired man, oblivious to how stupid it was for a small girl barely over five feet in height to attack one member of a group of twenty people. She wasn't even able to think clearly enough to let out Basil and Blight from their pokéballs to help. The rage was in complete control, and it made Eve want nothing more than to tear the red-headed man to pieces with her own hands.

The people and pokémon were all too stunned by the sudden intrusion to react, giving Eve the chance to ram her shoulder into the leader's stomach, knocking him to the ground. But before she could do anything further, she found herself being hauled backward by two men. Eve struggled viciously against them, with more vigor than would have seemed possible; but she was too small in comparison to the men, both of whom easily managed to keep their grip.

The leader got up from the ground and said something; but Eve's rage was still so complete that it was like a roaring in her ears, blocking out anything else that tried to interfere with it. The two men heard him easily enough, though, in spite of Eve's frequent screams of protest and outrage. They drug the struggling girl into the lake until the three of them were about waist-deep in the water. Then they dunked Eve in the lake and held her there.

As soon as she felt herself being pushed down, Eve took a deep breath. Even once she was submerged, she opened her eyes and continued to struggle, instinctually trying to knock the men's legs out from beneath them. As she tried in vain to achieve this, she dimly noticed six pokémon a few feet away in the water, watching her intently. One was the serpent from before; the others were the five magikarp. None of them said anything to her, perhaps realizing that she wouldn't have listened anyway.

Eve's efforts to escape the men's grips didn't last long. The big gulp of air had actually irritated her lungs, and that combined with the exertion of the thrashing soon sent Eve into one of her coughing fits. Her thrashing slowed and eventually stopped as more and more water entered her lungs. After only twenty seconds under the water, she blacked out.

Eve awoke coughing a few seconds later. She coughed up a large amount of water, and as she did this, she realized that she was kneeling on solid ground. When she instinctually tried to stagger upright, she felt the two men's grip on her shoulders holding her down. Upon noticing this, she began to struggle again, the rage giving her energy that her body wouldn't have normally possessed given the circumstances.

"So what should we do, Chris?" one of Eve's captors asked the red-haired man. "We've never had someone catch us in the middle of one of our ceremonies. Most people wouldn't come out to the middle of nowhere on one of the lake's rainy days."

"I've never seen her around Mahogany," one of the women in the group said, her eyes filled with bloodlust. "I doubt anyone would think anything of a teenage girl's drowned body after a storm. They'll think it was her own fault for wandering around the lake in this kind of weather. Don't you think she would make a marvelous sacrifice, Chris?"

Eve was still deaf with rage, so she heard none of this. However, she did see the red-haired man as he walked forward and crouched just in front of her, a triumphant smile on his face. She wanted to strike out at him somehow, but each of the men had a strong grip; there was no way for her to get loose.

This red-haired man, Chris, began to talk to the group, though his eyes remained locked with Eve's. "No, no, no, we can't kill this girl! That would be a waste! Let me ask you this: what is it that we call ourselves?"

"The Cult of Rage!" The group shouted as a whole. Obviously, it was a practiced response.

"And the purpose of our little cult, as we so proudly call it, is to harness the power of rage. My father was a psychic, and he could feel the rage more clearly than any human. I inherited his talent, and many of you have joined the Cult of Rage because you, too, can sense the power that is hidden just beneath the surface of this lake. And as true followers of Ho-oh, you believe that we must do everything we can to gain this power." He spoke in a manner halfway between storytelling and prophecy, and his followers were completely engrossed in his words. Not one of them had a shred of doubt that what he spoke was absolute truth.

He continued: "For years, we have added to the rage of the lake in hopes that we might find a way to gain access to the power. And now, I can tell you that we have finally found our pathway to the power! This girl's anger isn't normal. She's not just a pokémon sympathizer who can't understand what we just did. The rage of the lake is actually funneling itself into her. Isn't that right, girl?"

Eve's rage still kept her from listening to him, but it was easy to see from his demeanor that he was goading her. Eve struggled harder, wanting nothing more than to kill the man.

Before Chris could continue with his preaching, a voice from the other side of the clearing called Eve's name. She recognized the voice, and her rage cleared just enough to let her see Katsu as he charged towards the group. He was smarter about it than Eve had been, though; Totodile and Snivy were running just in front of him, and when he got closer, he called out his slowpoke and paras.

He ordered Snivy to send a razorleaf towards the entire group of people, which sent all the humans diving to find cover, including Eve's captors. One of the leaves grazed Eve's arm, but she ignored it as her rage flared up again as a result of her freedom. She immediately flung herself at Chris, but he was no fool. He saw her coming and caught both of her hands before her punches could connect. Using his size to his advantage, he wrestled her to the ground and put his knees on her back to hold her in place.

"Everyone, have your pokémon attack the boy!" Chris ordered. "Capture him!"

The following struggle was short; the only good thing that came of it was that the wild pokémon that the trainers' pokémon had been guarding had the chance to escape. Katsu and his four pokémon were no match against twenty trainers and their pokémon. They forced him to recall his pokémon, and afterward they brought him over next to Eve. He and Eve were both forced to stand in front of Chris; each had their own pair of guards to keep them in place. Eve kicked out at them, but it did no good; they flinched but otherwise the ignored the blows.

"So this is the famous Eve, huh?" Chris asked Katsu. Katsu glared in response, so Chris continued, "I thought she looked familiar, but she was so wet and muddy when she came to us that I didn't make the connection. That complicates things, but it doesn't change the fact that we need her to accomplish our goals. So tell me – who are you? And why did you charge to Eve's rescue?"

Katsu continued to glare, so Chris grabbed his unruly mane of blond hair and yanked it back, with no pretense of gentleness. "Answer the questions or I rip it out completely. Some scalp will probably come out with it. Your choice: have your scalp ripped out or tell me how you know Eve."

"All right! My name's Katsu!" Katsu said, giving in to the pain. "Eve and I have travelled together a few times. That's how we know each other."

Chris let go of Katsu's hair, satisfied. "Well, you've made things much easier for me, then. Everyone, form into the circle!"

All of the people who weren't holding on to either Katsu or Eve formed a circle around them, their expressions filled with a deadly curiosity. "Now, everyone, we need to go one step farther if we want to channel the rage out of this girl and into ourselves or our pokémon. We must focus her rage to the point where she can no longer contain both the lake's rage and her own. First, let's stand the girl in the water; that should give her a more direct connection with the lake, which is the source of the power."

The two men drug the still-struggling girl through the drizzle and mud, back into waist-deep water. The circle reformed so that it was more of a horseshoe shape with the open end facing Eve.

"Now Matt, reach into her pouch and grab one of her pokéballs, if there are any there." One of the men holding Eve took his hand off of her shoulder briefly and pulled out one of the pokéballs. He threw it to Chris, who pressed the opening mechanism; Basil was the pokémon to appear. He quickly saw what was going on, and sparks began to arc several feet from his body. "If you try to attack, your trainer gets drowned," Chris warned, not in the least perturbed by the pikachu's aggression. "In fact, I want you to do everything I say. We've got plenty of pokémon here to keep you in check, so it's not as if you could actually help your trainer without us stopping you."

~Eve! Eve! What's going on?~ Basil asked. ~Did they do something to you? Why aren't you listening to me?~

Eve heard Basil and saw how scared he was, but the rage still wouldn't fade. She continued to struggle, giving no sign that she had even recognized Basil.

"Now pikachu, I want you to attack Katsu," Chris said as he gestured for the two men holding Katsu to join the semicircle. Chris backed up as well so that Basil and Katsu were the only ones in the center of the half circle. Katsu looked around at the people around him, defiance and fear on his face. "Hold back only enough power to keep from killing him. If you try to go too easy on him, we'll take over. And when we take over, we'll just kill him."

Basil looked frantically back and forth from Eve to Chris. ~Eve! What should I do! As much as I dislike Katsu, I don't want to hurt him!~

Eve's rage had apparently faded enough that she had heard and understood what Chris had ordered Basil to do; and what she heard sent her into a frenzy, her rage building yet again. "No! Don't make Basil do that Katsu! No!" She kicked out at the men who were holding her in her spot in the water; they flinched at the underwater blows, but there still wasn't enough force behind the kicks to make them let go.

Chris took Eve's reaction in stride. "Well, pikachu? Get on with it, or your trainer's dead."

Basil looked back at Eve one last time, hoping for some sort of order as to what he should do. But she was practically incoherent. Basil had no other choice; he turned to Katsu and hit him with a thunderbolt.

Before the power boost that Basil had received from Raikou, even his strongest attack probably wouldn't have done any lasting damage to a human. But now, even a purposefully weak thunderbolt did much more than that. Katsu screamed and fell to his knees. Though Eve was a good distance away, she could see that his hair was singed, and his skin seemed slightly darker, as if the outermost layer had been burnt off.

Eve shouted out again, her rage reaching ever greater heights. She twisted her head and actually bit down on one of her captor's hands in a desperate attempt to get free. He let go for a moment, cursing, but he quickly remembered his job and grabbed Eve before she could escape from the other man's grip.

Chris watched this in interest. "She still needs a little more provoking. She isn't letting the lake's rage out of her body yet," he said, partly to himself. Then, turning back to Basil, he said, "Spark attack next, then. It doesn't look like the boy would be able to survive another thunderbolt. And don't bother waiting for another command; just keep it up until I stop you."

Basil had no choice but to obey. He ran forward, sparks flying from his body and seeming to dance among the raindrops. Being so small, the tackle itself wouldn't have done much more than knock Katsu over. But with the electricity added in to the physical hit, it was enough to elicit another cry of pain from Katsu.

Katsu tried to get back up, but Basil turned around and hit him again with another spark attack. This sequence repeated several times before Katsu just stayed on the ground as the hits came; whether he was unconscious, out of energy, or simply pretending to be at his limit, no one could tell.

Throughout this, Eve's rage continued to grow and grow to the point where she literally felt as if she would burst from the pressure. She yelled and screamed for Chris to stop, for him to stop ordering Basil to attack. And she yelled and screamed that she would kill every last human in this group, and every last pokémon that obeyed their orders.

And as her rage grew, the waves pushed the magikarp closer and closer to her. ~Let us help!~ they said to her together; and though they stayed beneath the water, Eve heard them. ~We don't want to see you hurt, or see your friends hurt! Lend us your power – we might be able to chase these humans off! Just let us help!~ Eve felt their fins brush against her as they continued to urge her to let them aid her in some way. They didn't seem to care if the two men saw them; thankfully for them, the two men were more focused on Katsu's pain than on the water around their legs.

Eve's anger finally reached its climax when Katsu stopped struggling. She saw his body lying on the ground, covered in mud to the point that he almost wasn't recognizable, and something within her snapped. She'd seen too much death since the day before: the pair of aerodactyl had been killed by her pokémon, and then she'd stood by and watched this group of humans kill that wooper. Something within her literally couldn't endure the idea of Katsu dying from Basil's attacks.

And as that something snapped, the rage of the lake began to pour out of her. Chris noticed the change almost immediately, and he gestured for his group to follow him as he approached Eve. He watched the two men holding Eve with jealousy as he waded through the water; he could tell by the hardness in their eyes and the sudden strengthening of their grips that the energy was flooding into them, steeling them both mentally and physically in the way that only hatred and anger can.

So focused was he on Eve and the men holding her that he didn't notice the suddenly powerful thrashings of the magikarp around Eve's legs. They were receiving the brunt of the energy flowing out of Eve. Only when Chris was up to his knees did he see the glow among the splashes; and when he realized what was happening, he stopped in his tracks. His expression of confidence and greed quickly changed to one of absolute horror as he watched the glowing bodies of the magikarp grow and extend. In a matter of seconds, five gyarados loomed just behind Eve, their bodies filled with an anger that was not their own.

So great was the fury that filled them that they attacked almost before they were done changing. Three of them dived for Chris and his group of followers, using hydro pumps and hyper beams at their full strength; another attacked the trainers' pokémon, all of whom were still out from having to deal with Katsu's attack. The last slapped its tail into the water just short of Eve, sending a wave towards her that forced her captors to let go of her as they swam to avoid the worst of the wave.

Eve didn't quite notice the wave until it had pushed her a dozen feet under the water; the evolution of the magikarp had sent her into a daze. The force of the wave brought her back to her senses, though, and as she struggled to force her exhausted body to the surface, she recognized that the rage of the lake had completely left her. She also recognized that she didn't have the energy to fight the stormy currents and get back to the surface, and she knew that even the gyarados who had purposefully forced her captors away would be too focused on his intended targets to think to help Eve.

She was just about at her limit on holding her breath when she felt something smooth swim past her hand. She opened her eyes and saw the serpent next to her; his eyes met hers, and even underwater, she heard him hum as he told her to grab on. She wrapped her arms around his thick body and then held on tightly as his serpentine body cut through the water.

When they reached the surface, Eve maintained her hold on his body to help keep herself afloat as she gasped for air. Waves crashed into her and rain poured down on her as she tried to pull herself together; that combined with her weariness meant she couldn't even lift her head far enough above the water to see what was happening.

Her ears made up for what her eyes couldn't see. She heard the roaring of the gyarados; she heard explosions and cracks as the gyarados tore up everything around them with their bodies and their hyper beams and their hydro pumps; and above all this, she heard the cries of terror and pain coming from human and pokémon alike. She wanted to cover her ears and block out the sounds, but she couldn't let go of the serpent and still expect to stay afloat. So she was forced to listen as the horrific noises forced their way through the waves and into her ears.

After a few minutes of this had passed, the cries disappeared; and a few minutes after that, the gyarados's fury cooled, and out of the corner of her eye Eve watched them as they slid back into the water, disappearing from sight.

Then all Eve heard was the drumming of the rain and the gusting of the wind.

~Do you want me to take you back to land?~ came the gentle hum of the serpent's voice. ~You're shaking. I don't think humans can normally handle being in waters this cold, even when they aren't as fatigued as you currently are.~

Eve didn't answer in any way, but the serpent began to swim back to shore nonetheless. Almost as soon as Eve felt her feet begin to drag along the bottom, she heard a sound that woke her from her stupor.

"Eve! Where are you?" the voice was weak and frayed, but Eve recognized it as Katsu's; against all her expectations, he had somehow made it out of the rampage alive.

And just after this call, Eve heard Basil cry out, ~Eve! Please don't be dead! Don't be drowned!~

Eve stood up in response to the voices, and as she waded out of the water, Katsu and Basil caught sight of her. Katsu dashed out into the water to help her to shore, while Basil anxiously waited on the bank for the two. "How did you manage to get back to shore?" Katsu asked as he put Eve's arm around his shoulders, terribly conscious of how violently she was shaking. "I saw the wave that hit you. And with the storm stirring up the water so much, and how cold it is, I thought…" he trailed off, and Eve didn't respond; but when he felt something swim past his leg and looked down to see the serpent swimming ahead of them to the bank, he guessed what had happened. "A dratini… It saved you, didn't it? I've never seen one in real life. They normally avoid humans completely… Why did it decide to save you?"

Any answer that Eve might have had disappeared as she stepped onto land and Basil launched himself at Eve's chest. She caught him with her free hand, not even perceiving the mud that covered him. ~Eve! You're okay! I'm sorry I couldn't get you away from those humans, but they said they would drown you if I tried anything, so I didn't have any choice!~ His ears hung dejectedly by his face, showing just how horrible he felt.

Eve had no words of comfort for him. She'd caught sight of the destruction, and that sight was too much for Eve exhausted mind to handle.

The area was completely obliterated. Trees for nearly a half-mile around the clearing had been knocked over by the gyarados or destroyed by their hyper beams, presumably while they had been chasing the pokémon who had tried to flee. Deep ruts scarred the ground from the gyarados's movements, and craters indicated where hyper beams and hydro pumps had landed. For as far as Eve could see through the driving rain, there was nothing but mud and uprooted trees.

Yet when Eve looked closer, there was a little more than that. Bodies of humans and pokémon littered the ground, though most were so covered in mud that they were hard to distinguish from their surroundings. Those that Eve could see were so mutilated that they barely looked like the living beings they had once been. She saw several human bodies lying at the bottom of a nearby crater, so marred by the energy of a hyper beam that they looked like a pile of burned, twisted roots. At the edge of the crater, she saw the body of the raticate; the back half of its body met with the front half at a ninety-degree angle, its spine completely broken. And more bodies lay beyond that, and more twisted shapes lay on the ground beyond those, and Eve guessed that there were more in the forest, if she cared to look.

"Set her next to my houndoom," Eve heard another voice say, one that she hadn't been expecting on hearing. "She's already going into shock due to the mental and physical stress. Warming up will help." With some effort, Eve turned her face away from the carnage and looked up to see Hope standing next to Houndoom. But she looked away as soon as she saw Hope's scarred face. Before now, Eve had been able to pretend to ignore it; she had never been able to focus much on appearances. But seeing the reddish shadow of what had been such a terrible laceration now was just too much for Eve. It was another tragedy, and there had been tragedy enough this day to last Eve for a lifetime.

Noticing that Eve was too lost in her thoughts to do much for herself, Katsu led her over to Houndoom; she mindlessly sat herself against the fire-type's body, unconsciously doing as Hope had suggested. Houndoom growled protectively, reassuring Eve enough to allow her to speak again.

"How d-did you f-find me?" she asked, her teeth chattering together. "I thought b-both of you were t-training."

Katsu knelt down next to Eve. He was muddy, and his hair and skin still had a somewhat singed look to them; but other than that, he seemed okay. "We came back early. We hadn't gone too far to train. We were halfway through a battle when Hope's houndoom heard screaming, and so we rushed back to see what was going on. We went even faster when we saw that you'd left the egg with your bayleef. I'm guessing you heard the pokémon's screams, too? Is that how you got pulled into all this?"

Eve nodded her head, then quickly shut her eyes as she caught sight of another human body close by. She kept them shut as she said, "I got angry at the sight of them h-hurting the pokémon. The lake… it…"

"I think I get the idea of what's up with the lake," Katsu said. "That man pretty much explained it all. Also… I'm sorry that I didn't think ahead more. It was stupid of me to try to rescue you by myself."

"That's what I said," Hope said.

Katsu glared at her. "You also said to just stand by and watch. You said that it would be interesting, and that we couldn't do anything anyways. That's not how you think about things."

Hope simply shrugged, unconcerned with whether or not Katsu approved of her actions.

"But how are you okay now?" Eve asked, the chattering of her teeth dying down somewhat. She was still shivering, but the heat emanating from Houndoom's body was definitely helping her. She still had her eyes shut. "Basil's thunderbolt… And then the gyarados..."

"Your pikachu…" Katsu started, but his voice trailed off momentarily. Eve reopened her eyes to see what was wrong. He met her eyes, seemed to swallow his pride, and then continued, "No, I can't just call him a pikachu anymore. As much as I don't want to admit it, Basil had every reason to hit me with as strong of a thunderbolt as he could manage. You've told me that he doesn't like me much, and he knew that you would be hurt if he didn't. But even knowing that, he didn't hit me with anything near what he's capable of. The attack was showy and flashy, but it didn't have much power in it; I just acted like it did, hoping that the man and his followers wouldn't notice. Basil risked having you harmed in order to keep from harming me too badly. And for that… Thank you, Basil."

Basil wasn't quite sure how to react. ~I just didn't want him to get hurt, is all. He didn't deserve it, and I knew you wouldn't like it.~

Eve didn't bother translating. Instead, she restated the second part of her question. "And the gyarados? How did you and Basil get away?"

"Hope got us both on her houndoom as soon as she saw the magikarp beginning to evolve," Katsu said. "We were dashing out of the clearing when the gyarados attacked. The last thing I saw was that wave crashing down on you. We came back to the clearing after the gyarados had gone back to the lake, but to be honest… I didn't think you'd be alive."

Suddenly, Basil tensed in Eve's lap. ~One of the trainers' pokémon is still alive! I can feel an electric type nearby!~

Eve shakily stood up and told Hope and Katsu what Basil had said. She looked around and saw a four-legged pokémon quietly nosing the burnt body of one of the humans. He looked almost numb with sorrow.

"A luxio," Hope said, walking towards the electric-type. The luxio didn't even notice. "Judging by that human's state, I'd say his pokéball is probably destroyed." As if to test it, she pulled an empty pokéball from one of her bracelets and pressed it against the luxio's body. His body turned to red light and he went into the pokéball without protest, too despairing to care whether or not he was caught by a new trainer.

_Another tragedy… Another teammate for Hope._ Eve thought to herself. But another thought entered her mind as well, a thought strong enough to force the last vestiges of energy from Eve's body. Her legs gave out beneath her, and Katsu just barely managed to catch her before she tumbled to the ground.

"Eve, you should sit down next to Hope's houndoom again," he said, lowering Eve next to the canine. Basil rubbed up against her, sensing that something was wrong other than Eve's physical weakness.

"Basil… Basil… I did all this," Eve said, horror filling her thoughts. She put her head in her hands, as if to block out everything around her. "The magikarp didn't want to kill the humans. They just wanted to chase them away. But the power of the lake went through me and into them, and I wanted to kill them, and so they… they… they did this. I've always been so scared of getting angry… Now I did this."

Basil gently nudged her arm with his hand. ~That's not right, Eve! I know it's not! There's no way this was your fault! You can't help it if you get angry!~

"It sounds like it's more the lake's fault than yours," Katsu said. "From what that guy said, the lake's rage was what provoked you to anger… And besides, it was the energy from the lake that made the magikarp evolve. There's no way you could have stopped that."

Eve shook her head. "No. The rage helped provide the energy, but I'm the one that made them evolve. I can make pokémon evolve… That's what Entei and Raikou and Suicune told me. This whole thing is like how Aiden evolved… Something else provided the energy, and I helped transfer the energy to the pokémon. If I could have kept myself from getting angry, then maybe…"

Katsu looked dumbstruck. "You can make pokémon evolve? But that's… Well, I'd say it's impossible, but I used to think that talking with pokémon was impossible, too."

The dratini suddenly spoke up, his humming letting even Hope and Katsu know that he was talking. ~What were you saying, Eve? If you could have kept yourself from getting angry, then maybe… What? The 'maybe' is irrelevant; you act like a pokémon, and so you have no way to check your rage. Humans kill purposefully, as you've seen today; pokémon kill without forethought, as you've also seen today. You would have killed all the humans yourself, had it been in your power. If this is really the first time you've been angry in so long, then maybe you are blessed. That would mean that you lack both the evil intent that all humans possess and the far extreme of emotion that can drive pokémon to kill.~

Eve shook her head again; whatever the dratini said to try to soften reality, it wasn't enough. She'd been able to hold back her anger when she'd spoken with him the first time, when the lake had started affecting her. She knew that it would have been possible for her to hold it back, even when faced with provocation. Difficult, yes, but possible. Yet she had let her anger get the better of her, and now some twenty humans and at least as many pokémon were dead.

Seeing her denial, the dratini slithered over and raised his head so that it was even with Eve's. Eve kept her head in her hands, not bothering to look up at him as he said, ~Do you remember what I first said when I saw you?~

"Something about how the lake of rage was affecting me, I think," Eve said, still thinking more about what she had done than what the dratini was saying.

The dratini blinked. ~Well, I suppose that's true. But after that, what did I say to you?~

Eve thought for a moment. "That I was an interesting human, and that you'd never met an interesting human before."

~Yes, that's it. And that's still true. I'm intrigued by you, and I feel sorry that you're so torn between your human nature and your essence as a pokémon. If you'd allow it, I'd very much like to travel with you. I've spent enough of my life in this lake.~

Eve finally looked up, into those big, black, curious eyes. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You don't seem much like a pokémon who would exactly enjoy being in a pokéball half the time, which is what would happen. You're kind of… different. You think differently than other pokémon, and you talk differently, too."

~Then I suppose neither of us quite fits in with the society we were born into, do we?~ the dratini said. ~All the more reason to join you. And I doubt a pokéball will bother me much.~

"Well… Okay, I suppose," Eve said, pulling an empty pokéball from her hip pouch. She didn't notice how easily he'd been able to change the subject from her guilt to something completely different. "If you're sure. And I'd need to give you a name… In human speech, it's weird for me to just call you Dratini"

~Yes, I'm sure I want to go with you,~ the dratini said. ~And if I must have a name, then call me Pebble. That's what you thought the thing on my forehead is, and it somehow seems fitting.~

Eve looked at him dumbly, surprised how easily he had adopted the idea of using a name for himself; since names were a purely human thing, most pokémon couldn't even understand the concept. _Just one more way his speech resembles the Great Ones… They use names, too, after all._ "Okay, Pebble it is. Do you want to go in your pokéball now, or-"

~There's one thing we need to do first,~ Pebble said. ~That pokémon you left to guard that egg is probably worried by now. We should all go back that way so you can reassure her.~

"Oh, that's right…. She's probably in a panic, but she won't leave the egg because I told her how important it is," Eve said, unsteadily pushing herself to her feet. Katsu grabbed her arm, helping her as best he could.

Katsu must have gotten the gist of the conversation from what Eve had said. "Before we go anywhere, we need to figure out what to do about all… this. Should we call the Mahogany Police? Or just leave and wait for someone else to find this mess? No one will probably come out here until the rain stops in a few days… Who knows if the pokémon in the area will leave the bodies alone until then?"

Eve looked out at the bodies as Hope gave her opinion on the matter. "If we call the police, it will look odd that we were the only humans who escaped the rampage," she said flatly. "If you don't call the police, then all that happened was a suspicious looking group was attacked by some gyarados from the lake."

"But we have to call," Eve said quietly, looking out at the carnage in front of her. "I don't care if I get blamed. I am to blame, after all. But as bad as these people were… What if they had families? They might have people waiting for them to come home. It wouldn't be right to just leave the bodies here and do nothing."

Hope shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Katsu sighed. "As complicated as it will make things… It's the ethical thing to do. Eve, why don't get on Hope's houndoom and let her carry you over to where you left your bayleef and the egg; you seem too weak to walk very far at the moment. I'll call the police on my cell phone while we walk. That is, if I can keep it dry enough to make it work. I'll tell them what happened."

"But don't mention that I can make pokémon evolve, Katsu," Eve said desperately. Even considering the situation, this seemed important to keep secret. "I don't want many people knowing… I've only told Mark and Hope before now. You know it now, too. Three people is enough."

Katsu nodded as he helped Eve onto Houndoom's back. "Don't worry. All I'm going to tell them is how things looked on the surface: you tried to save the pokémon they were hurting, since purposefully killing pokémon is illegal. They tried to hurt you; I came and tried to help, but they caught me and hurt me, too. Then the gyarados came, and Hope managed to help both of us to safety. It's true enough, and the police can't pin any blame on you, even if you think that you deserve it. But anyway, let's go get your other pokémon."

But as Katsu led the way back down the beach - trying to stay under the trees so that he could talk on his phone without ruining it - Eve looked back at the gruesome scene that she had helped to create. And as she watched it get smaller and smaller as Houndoom carried her away from it, she felt as if part of her had died along with all the humans and pokémon. She had seen death before, and it had scared her; but never before had she seen it on this large a scale, and never before had she been part of the cause. She could never again be quite the same person she had been. _Even time can't heal this memory… I don't think I'll ever be able to move past it. Not completely, at least._

But even as she thought this, her weariness overtook her. Her eyes closed, she rested her head on Houndoom's neck, and she passed into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

So... I've just barely started the next chapter. Which is sad, considering this one has been done since the end of November. However, I won't have much to do this weekend, and the semester ends soon, and I'm not worrying about studying too much for finals since none of my grades are low or high enough that finals would have much of an effect either way... So I should be able to get it done by Thursday. I won't promise it, though, for this one time at least. But it will definitely be out by Friday if I can't finish it before Thursday.

Thanks for reading!


	23. Recovering

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Recovering**

Eve braced herself as Aiden – completely ecstatic to see his trainer – came running toward her over the open lawn. The arcanine easily stopped his momentum just before reaching Eve, and he wasted no time before gently nudging his muzzle into Eve's face and sides. He was more careful around her stomach, though; she was still carrying the egg in its improvised sling, and even in his elation he had the presence of mind to keep from bumping it too much.

~Eve! You're better!~ he said, his tail wagging. ~The people who've been healing my leg said that you weren't feeling well, and that's why you haven't come to see me…~

Stretching to reach past his muzzle, Eve scratched behind the arcanine's ears. The duo was currently in the recovery yard back behind the Mahogany Pokémon Center, which was a medium-sized park area the center had to allow for pokémon both large and small to have a place to exercise while they heal. "Yeah, I haven't been feeling all that well, I'll admit," Eve said to Aiden. "Ever since the lake incident, I've just felt drained of energy. I've only been up for five or six hours for some of the last few days. But I think I'm better now." Eve's voice reflected her strange lack of energy; while by no means did she sound exhausted, her voice was mellower now, almost as if it had lost some of its characteristic cheerfulness.

Aiden stopped his sniffing and instead sat down, training his eyes on Eve. He tilted his head slightly as he asked, ~Lake incident? What is it that happened?~

"Oh, that's right. I haven't had a chance to tell you yet," Eve said. She quickly recounted the tale, though she kept her voice low; nurses and other trainers were coming and going in the yard area, and she didn't want to be overheard.

As she got to the more gruesome details, she noted with a distant curiosity that her mood hardly even changed. Once upon a time, she would have trembled to hear a story even half as frightening as this one; now it didn't faze her, even considering the fact that she had been so involved in the bloody occasion.

She'd already observed this numbness in the relatively few waking hours she'd had in the week since she, Katsu, and Hope had arrived in Mahogany Town. Most of that time had been spent in her room, either thinking to herself, talking with all of her smaller pokémon, or talking with Katsu when he managed to come by. Almost all of this thinking and talking had focused around what had occurred at the Lake of Rage, which in turn had helped her to realize several things about the incident.

Firstly, she perceived that she changed. That much was almost painfully clear. She couldn't say exactly how – and she couldn't say how permanent it was – but she had definitely changed. Whereas normally she'd been optimistic, she was now much less bright as far as her disposition went. By no means was she pessimistic now; but she simply couldn't wipe the memory of all the dead bodies from her mind, and it weighed heavily upon her.

At the same time, she felt more certain than ever about what she should do concerning Lugia and Ho-oh and the powers that the legendary beasts had spoken of. Part of that surety came from Pebble's wise words, both those that he had said at the lake and more that he had told Eve since then. Another part of it came from what she had seen the Cult of Rage do and what she had helped the magikarp do. The fact that both humans and pokémon alike were capable of that much destruction made Eve want to search for a way to change it, even if she wasn't sure where that path might take her.

Thus did her trauma give her motivation; and Pebble provided the logic to guide that motivation.

Before she knew it, Eve was lost in a reverie of these thoughts; she wasn't roused from it until Aiden laid his head down at her feet. Even as lost in thought as Eve was, Aiden was so big that he was hard _not _to notice; the crown of his head still reached to Eve's waist. He whined faintly, concern emanating from him.

Eve knelt down and began to scratch behind his ears again, though she had to be careful not to overbalance due to the weight of the egg. "Sorry. Guess I lost my train of thought. Anyway, how are you feeling? When you came running up, it still looked like you had a bit of a limp."

Aiden wagged his tail again, cheered slightly by the fact that Eve was talking. ~Yes, I'm still limping somewhat. But it's much better than it was before. I think the humans said that I would be completely better in another couple of days.~

"That's good to hear," Eve said, smiling slightly. "It never ceases to amaze me how quickly pokémon can heal. A similar wound on a human would have taken weeks to mend itself. But even as quick as it is, I still sometimes wish I had Yellow's power to heal… I hate to see you cooped up in this little yard."

A small bark of amusement escaped Aiden's throat. ~I'm hardly cooped up. I could easily jump over these walls if I wanted more space to run.~ This was true; the brick walls, though quite solid enough to keep most pokémon in, were only six or so feet high. Even if injured, an arcanine could easily make that sort of leap.

Still rubbing Aiden's ears, Eve replied, "Well, just make sure you stay here for now. It'd be bad if you-"

"Hey, Eve, there you are!" A familiar voice shouted from behind Eve, interrupting her. She turned to see Jenna striding toward her, a wry smile on her face. "I've been looking for you, and Katsu told me that you've been sticking around the pokémon center for the last few days. So I thought I'd check here, and here you are. Glad to see me?"

A bewildered expression crossed Eve's face. "Um, sure, I suppose. But how are you out of the hospital so quickly? Didn't you have a heart attack?"

"Well, heart attack isn't exactly the word for it, I'll admit. A lot of things happen to my body, and none of them really have any sort of medical precedent. This sort of thing sorta acts like a heart attack, but it's only really serious if I don't get medical treatment quickly. But I can recover quickly – that's always been one of my myriad strengths." Even in a matter like this, Jenna had turned her response into a boast; she certainly didn't have any hesitancy about giving into her ego. "Anyway, seems like you've been up to a lot since Cynthia and I had to part ways with you. Katsu's been calling us to fill us in on what the news hasn't said. So that's the aerodactyl egg you picked up after killing off the parents, huh? Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. I'd take one of those flying monsters over reward money any day."

Eve paled slightly, but didn't ignore the harshness of Jenna's words. "Death isn't something to joke around about," she said, much more assertive than she ever had been before, especially around someone as intimidating as Jenna.

Jenna tried to choke back a laugh in response. "You know, seriousness really doesn't suit you well. You should've stuck with being an indecisive wimp, always following Mark's political agenda to the letter. And anyway, who said I was joking? Death is death; you make the best of it so long as it doesn't happen to you."

Aiden growled slightly, knowing that Jenna didn't want to hear this sort of careless attitude towards such a serious matter. Eve put a hand on him to placate him, and she decided to drop the subject; she doubted there would be any sense trying to reason with someone like Jenna. "So what you said just a minute ago about the news… The fact that I have an aerodactyl egg hasn't been mentioned, has it?" _As if everything hasn't already been bad enough, the last thing I need is that scientist realizing that I have his egg._

"No, hardly. No one cares about a stupid egg that you picked up, and they wouldn't have any idea even if they did care," Jenna answered. "I've heard more about your murder of twenty-three humans and a good deal more pokémon, if the media organizations that Rocket has paid off are too be believed. Nice job with that, by the way; the pictures make me think that I couldn't have done a better job of finishing off a bunch of bullies like them."

Despite how numb she was feeling, this came as a shock. _Have I really been this cut off from everyone over the last few days? No one ever said anything about me being accused of murder when I grabbed lunch here in the pokémon center… Then again, would they mention anything if they thought I had it in my power to murder them? I suppose everyone _was _kind of staring at me whenever I was in the cafeteria… _Before Eve could respond to this information, she coughed; it still sounded just as bad as it had before the incident at the lake, despite all the rest Eve had gotten since then. Aiden growled, though whether his displeasure was directed toward Jenna or the coughing was hard to tell.

"Rocket?" Eve asked Jenna incredulously when she managed to suppress the coughing, her voice somewhat hoarse. "What does Rocket have to do with this?"

Shrugging, Jenna replied, "Beats me. Ask Mark if you want to know more about it. He keeps on going on about how unprecedented it is and whatnot. And that Brian they've got, he's a great speaker; actually making people think that a sissy like you would egg on a bunch of gyarados to murder."

"Why are you even here?" Eve asked coldly; she was getting tired of being insulted so casually.

Jenna looked at Eve with mock hurt and thumped her hand over her heart. "That hurts, Eve. That hurts _bad_. I thought we were friends and all, you know? You're going to bring me to Ho-oh, after all, and I've been lending my support to your cause." Then Jenna laughed again. For whatever reason, she seemed to be in an even better mood than usual. "To be honest, I was bored over in the Ecruteak, so Mark sent me over here to be a bodyguard for you as long as your in Mahogany. There are quite a few people who would _love_ to get revenge on you for killing their friends and relatives with a hoard of gyarados. The job sounded like it would be interesting, so I agreed. Speaking of which, it would be a good idea for you to go by the police station so they can interrogate you; they're starting to get antsy, what with all the media attention, but your little boyfriends Katsu and Mark have been insisting that you haven't been well enough to be interrogated. And they don't have any evidence that you actually did anything wrong, so they can't arrest you and force you to come in." Jenna chuckled again. "Well, no evidence except for the fact that you _are_ able to talk to pokémon, and a bunch of gyarados just _happened_ to attack only the people who were hurting you."

Jenna suddenly turned around and started walking back the way she came. "Anyway, I'll be waiting in the lobby," she shouted, not bothering to turn around. "I expect you to be out there and ready to go in another minute, otherwise I might just decide that babysitting you is too much of a hassle. See you in sixty seconds!"

Aiden growled as Jenna walked back into the pokémon center; Eve stroked him to try to calm him. "I don't like her too much, either… But then again, she's been through a lot. If her reward for saving the world is having multiple heart attacks before the age of thirty, then maybe she has a right to be bitter."

~I still don't like her talking to you like that,~ Aiden said, his growl still rumbling in his throat.

"Don't worry. So long as she sticks to harming me with words only, I think I can take care of myself. You just worry about healing. I promise that I'll be fine so long as Jenna's around, even if it doesn't seem that way at times." _I can't help her see Ho-oh if she or anyone else kills me, after all._

Eve finished her goodbye and hurried out to the lobby, not bothering to stop by her room before meeting up with Jenna; she had her pokéballs and her money in her hip pouch, and that was all she really needed for a couple of hours in Mahogany Town.

"Well, took you long enough. That was at least a minute and a half. You're just lucky I'm the patient sort of person," Jenna said as Eve came up to her. "Anyway, lets go pay our respects to the local police. They're dying to see you, I'm sure." She led the way out of the pokémon center, and the two walked through the town in silence for a few minutes; Jenna remained in the lead, never bothering to turn around to see if Eve was following.

She was indeed following, but her mind was less on where they were going and more on whom they were passing. People glared and whispered to their friends as they walked past Eve, and more than once she heard the word "murderer" whispered. Despite the feeling of numbness that had encompassed her the last few days, this obvious animosity wasn't something that she could ignore. Of course, there were friendly faces among the crowd, too; people who still loved Eve for what she was doing politically, and who believed that she had done no wrong. Yet these faces seemed few and far between.

But even those with the most malevolent countenances didn't dare try to start a fight. Everyone recognized Jenna, and no one particularly wanted to make a quarrel with Eve so long as she was under the protection of the world's savior.

After five minutes or so of walking, Eve had finally worked up the courage to ignore the overt stares and muttered curses. She forced her mind to other topics, and came upon a question that had been bothering her over her days of reverie.

"Jenna, why is it that you decided to take on Team Galactic?" Eve asked.

Still without turning, Jenna replied, "And why do you want to know? What makes you think that you deserve to know what motives I might have had? You're the lamest excuse for a trainer I've ever met, and I hardly doubt you would understand even if I did deign to enlighten you concerning the inner machinations of my mind."

"I've been thinking more about what Raikou, Entei and Suicune said to me since the whole thing at the lake," Eve replied unfalteringly. "And if you ever want even the slightest chance at seeing Ho-oh, then I have to know why you sought the power to take on Team Galactic, and why you pushed yourself so far as to fight Palkia. Was it because you saw that something bad would happen if you didn't put a stop to it?"

At the mention of Ho-oh, Jenna slowed her pace until she was walking side by side with Eve. Her customary smile was there – not cruel, per say, but haughtily bemused. "Well, well, well. I thought I noticed something different about you when we were speaking back at the pokémon center, and I was right. You got a backbone since I last saw you! Congrats! Now you're a wimp that thinks she can stand up for herself!" She looked at Eve expectantly, seeing if she would fall for the goading; but Eve just kept staring at Jenna with the same expression as before, waiting for her question to be answered. "But you're still not prone to anger, I see," Jenna continued when Eve didn't say anything. "Whatever floats your boat. Anyway, what did you ask?"

"I asked why you took on Team Galactic," Eve said, her voice as emotionless as her gaze.

"Oh, yeah. That was it. Anyway, what you said before – about me seeing something bad that I needed to stop – is so far off from the truth that it's almost silly," Jenna started. "Oh, sure, I'll admit that I didn't particularly want the world to be destroyed, 'cause I'm not fond of the idea of dying. But that wasn't my primary motivation. I just wanted to be stronger. That was the reason behind everything I did back then; I wanted to be the most powerful person in the world, and I thought that pokémon training would be the best way to obtain that power. Screw right and wrong; I would've joined Team Galactic if there had been reason to believe that the could have helped me with my goal. The pokémon with me are the ones who shared my intent; all the others I released, either because they weren't strong enough to meet my standards or because they didn't want to keep up with the training I put them through. No sentimentality for me; it was all about power, power, and more power.

"Really, I'm not so different from that friend of yours. You know, Hope. The only difference that I can see is that I found fulfillment in seeking for power, whereas she's pure emptiness that's seeking something to be filled with. And power isn't what can fill her, apparently. Stinks for her, especially seeing as she can't realize it herself."

Eve more or less ignored this analysis of Hope; she was still attempting to process what Jenna had said about what her true intentions for saving the world had been. It stunned Eve for two reasons.

Firstly, it just seemed so strange that the person that everyone saw as the world's hero could have just as easily been the greatest villain. That is, if she wasn't lying about what she had just said, which Eve didn't think she was.

Secondly, her speech matched up almost perfectly with what she had imagined Ho-oh to want to see in a person. If she had understood the legendary beasts correctly, then she would need someone like this with her to summon Ho-oh. _Jenna could be just the sort of human that I need to call Ho-oh… Then again, is her power the sort of power that Ho-oh is supposed to embody? Is Ho-oh power for its own sake, or does he represent power gained for a purpose? Or maybe even both, or neither? Would Cynthia maybe be a better choice for power embodied, perhaps?_

When Eve didn't say anything for a few moments, Jenna added nonchalantly, "Of course, I've changed and changed again since those days. I still strive for even greater power, but not like I did before. You could say that my priorities shifted when I figured out that love wasn't just a fanciful idea. But then everything changed again when I figured out that the world screws everyone over, whether they be powerful or not."

"Are you talking about what Palkia did to your body?" Eve asked, bringing her mind back to Jenna's words. Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Is Palkia why you can't have kids, too?"

"Yeah, Palkia's the cause. But not having kids isn't even the half of it," Jenna said, seemingly more sincere now than she ever had been in the short time that Eve had known her. "I mean, sure, it kills me that I can't have kids, 'cause I know Evan would love to raise a family. But what really kills me is that… Well, it's that I'm actually being killed. You know, all the doctors I've talked to give me ten years at most to live, and some say no more than five. I don't want to die. I saved the whole friggin' world, for Arceus's sake; you'd think that I'd get to live past age thirty-five for my efforts."

With this information, Eve suddenly saw Jenna in a different light. The dirty clothes, the messy brown hair pulled back into its sloppy ponytail, her complete lack of respect; it wasn't just a façade put on to show the world that she didn't care what anybody thought of her. In a sense, it reflected the depths of her mind, and the injustice that the world had placed upon her shoulders. She was cynicism embodied.

It still didn't necessarily excuse Jenna's typical aggressive and rude demeanor; but it _did _manage to show Eve that this most powerful person in the world was perhaps somewhat justified in her utter lack of respect for anyone.

"I'm sorry to hear that-" Eve started, but she was suddenly interrupted by Jenna's harsh laugh.

"If I wanted sympathy, then I'd let all the world know every screwy part of my life," Jenna said, the grim smile back on her face. "So then why tell you, you might ask… To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. Guess I've taken a liking for you, pathetic weakling though you may be. And I've got a good feeling about whatever it is that's up with you and those oversized legendary dogs; sounds like it has potential to be exciting. And not much excites me since I defeated Palkia. That was more or less the climax of my life up to this point. And it doesn't look like I'll have time to find many more.

"But of course, if you talk about any of this to any person on the face of this earth, then you're getting blasted off of my nice list so fast that even those Rocket goons will wince. Got it?"

Eve blinked dumbly. Despite this last threat, she somehow felt flattered; she got the feeling that there weren't a lot of people whom Jenna would admit to liking. "Um, yeah, got it."

"Good," Jenna said, content. "Anyway, we're almost to the police station. If they give you any trouble, then just shout for me and I'll have Sandy teach 'em whose boss – that's my sandslash, by the way. I'm not too sure if you two have met yet. And just so you know, you might want to get everything cleared up today. I hear tell that Hope's going to be battling for the Mahogany badge tomorrow, and I'm willing to bet that you'd like to be there to support her. And even if you don't, I'd still really like to see that girl in action; if she's trained her cubone with the same dedication that she did when she was eight, I'm willing to bet that she's Champion material."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next morning, Mahogany Police Department released all documents pertaining to non-classified cases, as was daily procedure for any police department in the Johto region. Unfortunately for Eve, that meant that all the contents of her interview were divulged for the public to see.

She hadn't said anything truly incriminating, as per Katsu's advice. She'd told how she had tried to stop the Cult of Rage from harming the pokémon, and she'd mentioned how they'd nearly drowned her and how they'd captured Katsu and ordered him to be hurt as well. All of this fell in line with their questioning of Katsu some days previously.

It was on the details of the gyarados that she fudged a bit, seeing as there was no one left alive to speak the truth. After all, she, Katsu, and Hope were the only humans who could tell the full story, and even Hope had promised (in her apathetic way) not to say what had really happened. So the story was that the gyarados had seen several humans splashing in the water and had heard Eve's screaming, and that her fear and anger must have been enough to provoke them.

But the media simply would not let it rest at that; judging by the fervor with which they attacked Eve, perhaps it really was true that Rocket Corporation was paying them off. Bribed or no, the fact of the matter was that many stations were saying that Eve _must_ have egged on the gyarados, since a gyarados hadn't even been seen in that lake in living memory.

As Eve flipped through the news channels in the pokémon center lobby that morning, it seemed as if a picture of her was being shown on every single one of them. Those that didn't had political junkies discussing the implications of the 'grotesque act' and wondering if the government would sue Eve for her actions. On one channel, she saw a clip of Brian; he was in the middle of a speech, emphasizing that gyarados rampages would be the least of people's worries if pokémon rights were expanded any farther. For a moment, he had even Eve convinced that she was a terrible person who was just as out of control as any pokémon. She changed the channel quickly to some cartoons, but she did so too late; doubt had already wormed its way into her soul.

_If I'm really free of guilt, then why did I have to hide the truth from the police?_ She thought to herself, terribly conscious of the glares she was receiving from the several other people heading to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. She reached past her sling and rubbed the egg absently; the action calmed her slightly, though her doubt continued. _Katsu thought that I should hide the truth about being able to evolve pokémon, since people wouldn't understand that I couldn't control it… But does that free me from all culpability? Whether I could or couldn't have stopped the evolution, it was still my anger that helped the magikarp to evolve._

Basil was on her shoulder watching the news with her, and he reassuringly pressed his small body closer to her face. ~I'm not sure what you're thinking, but that guy definitely doesn't know what he's talking about. Those humans at the lake were the ones who provoked you. If anything, they deserved what they got.~

"Yeah, I know, but-" she began to cough; even though she'd hardly talked with Blight at all in the past week, the irritation she felt in her lungs and throat still hadn't gone away. This would've worried her, but her guilt was too great for her to really notice. When the coughing finally passed, she lapsed into silence, not exactly wanting to admit just how guilty she felt about the whole affair. It would just upset Basil more.

If anything, her intentions backfired. Basil was more agitated than soothed by her silence. ~Did you want to go talk to Aiden?~ Basil suggested, hoping that it might cheer her up. ~You haven't seen him yet today, have you?~

Eve looked up at a clock on the wall. "No, I'd better not. Hope's battle is going to be soon, and I bet that Jenna's getting impatient to get going. I'll talk to Aiden later."

~All right, then let's get going. We've stood around here long enough, I think.~

Eve obliged, and soon found Jenna waiting just outside of the main entrance of the pokémon center. As they walked towards the gym, Eve found that she was more comfortable around Jenna now than when the two had left the pokémon center the previous day. While it was hard to tell exactly what was going through Jenna's mind, Eve got the feeling that it was a very good thing that Jenna had, in her own words, 'taken a liking' to her. Though still somewhat cautious, Eve got the feeling that maybe she could trust Jenna much more than she had up until now. To Eve, it seemed that Jenna was now on her side because she wanted to be, not because she needed Eve to get to Ho-oh.

The two girls arrived right on time and seated themselves in the stands next to Katsu, only to find that Pryce, the gym leader, was the only one in the arena. The leader in question waited expectantly; even though his challenger wasn't on time, he seemed to have no doubt that she would come.

Katsu was just about to leave to search for Hope some five minutes later when she finally entered the doors of the gym and walked calmly up to the center of the arena to where Pryce was waiting for her. Aside from the three spectators and the two opponents, the only other person in the small gym was the match's judge.

Eve wasn't sure why Hope and Pryce would be meeting in the middle of the battlefield before beginning; in her experience, both leader and challenger wanted to get straight to the battle.

The reasoning became both clearer and more obscure as Pryce looked Hope right in the eye and said, "It's been a long time. How has your training gone, Hope? How's that cubone of yours? And the two that you caught just east of here… A houndour and sneasel, correct?"He spoke with a strange contradiction of cordiality and iciness, as if he wanted to be kinder but was incapable of such a thing.

Hope's response answered the question of how they knew each other, but opened a whole new batch of other questions. "You'll find out how my training has gone when we battle, Grandpa."

While Jenna seemed unfazed by the sudden revelation, the news surprised Eve, Katsu, and Basil. "Did you know that they were related?" Katsu whispered to Eve. Eve shook her head; she'd had absolutely no idea.

"You know that I can hear you over there, correct?" Pryce said, turning his head to look at the trio of spectators. He had a smile on his face that, like his tone of voice, seemed contradictory; it was both amused and cold at once. "And may I ask of what concern this battle is to the Sinnoh Champion, the famous – or infamous – Eve, and a third person whom I'm less acquainted with?"

Neither Eve nor Katsu quite knew how to respond, and Jenna's only response was an amused chuckled. To everyone's surprise – including Pryce's – Hope was the one who answered the question. "I've traveled with them several times over the past few months."

"And would they happen to have anything to do with the scar in the middle of your face?" he questioned back, more blunt than any grandfather Eve had ever heard of. It occurred to Eve that this was probably his first time seeing the scar, and that he probably hadn't been told anything about it by Hope up until now.

"Eve kept me from dying in the middle of the forest when a pidgeotto attacked me," Hope responded, her voice as monotone as ever. She seemed not at all bothered by her grandpa's almost uncaring comment on her scar, though any other person would have been bothered by it. Even now, weeks after the attack had occurred, the scar seemed red and raw, in spite of the fact that it had healed completely.

Pryce seemed mildly surprised by this. He turned towards Eve, who was about twenty feet away from him. He didn't bother to step forward to address her, though; the unique acoustics of the small gym somehow made it seem as if they were face to face. "In that case, I must thank you, since I am certain that my granddaughter has not." Then, turning back to his granddaughter, he said, "And now, in regards to our battle… I've been informed that you have won six badges. I thought that you would only come here to battle me for your eighth, so that you could fight me at my full strength. Was this not so?"

"Regardless of what badge this may be, I wish to fight you at your full strength now," Hope said. "If I wait to battle you for my eighth, I'm afraid I'll already have run out of time. You taught me how to battle. I need to see if I have surpassed you yet."

The gym leader scowled. "Run out of time? What do you mean by that?"

Hope didn't respond.

Pryce sighed, though it sounded empty. "And what will you do if you find that you have surpassed me?"

"I will return to Ecruteak to get my final badge," Hope said. "Then perhaps I will challenge the Elite Four. I will continue to get stronger."

"For what purpose?"

Hope's gaze didn't shift from the old man's face. "I don't know," she said.

He sighed again. "You are hard to understand, as always. But you are strong, which is all that I could have wanted in my son. Unfortunately, he took more after my fool brother than he did me." Eve and Katsu looked at each other incredulously; if Hope's grandfather was this cold-hearted when talking about his son, then maybe it was no wonder that Hope had turned out as she had.

_I wonder… If he's Hope's grandfather, and if Hope was an orphan from age five onwards, then it's not unlikely that she was raised solely by him. Could his coldness have been the reason for her emptiness?_

Oblivious to their stunned expressions, Pryce continued, "I expected that you would want me to battle at full strength; I have my best ice-types with me. Unless you have more to say, then I see no reason to postpone our match any longer."

"I had nothing to say from the beginning," Hope said. "Let's start the battle. Six-on-six, full strength from each of us. I'm ready."

Pryce had nothing more to say on the matter; he turned and walked back to his trainer box, and Hope walked to her place as well. The judge seemed just as confused as the spectators, but upon seeing the leader and challenger in their designated places, he knew that he was needed to initiate the battle.

The nervous man cleared his throat, then said: "As this is apparently to be a battle under the presumption of eight badges, then let both opponents know that neither shall be allowed substitutions; once a pokémon is recalled to its pokéball, it can no longer be used in the battle. With that in mind, let the battle between Pryce, Leader of Mahogany Gym, and Hope, the challenger, begin!"

* * *

You know, this fanfic would be a good five or six chapters shorter as of now if I knew how to stick to my outline for the story... Instead, I always write way more than I suspect, and I have to split chapters into two. Such is the case with this chapter. I'm not sure if it should make me happy that I can be that descriptive or sad that it's just taking me that much longer to write this fanfic because of it... But yeah, whatever.

And I just finished editing this chapter yesterday... The good news is, I aced all my finals (I think) and I have officially started my almost two full weeks of Christmas Break! And aside from college applications and learning how to build a bridge out of craft sticks, I really don't have much to do, which means I can dedicate more time to writing! I'm already well on my way to finishing the next chapter... If I really work at it, I'll probably be able to finish a chapter every one or two days.

...at least, until Christmas actually comes. Then I'm probably getting some new games (including *probably* my first Kingdom Hearts game - Birth By Sleep for PSP - which I'm super SUPER excited for) and my time will be divided again. But I'll still get writing done, I (sort of) promise!

Thanks for reading! And Merry Christmas! Or happy Hanukah, or whatever else it is that all of you celebrate! I hope you all enjoy it!


	24. Preparations

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Preparations**

As the two opponents sent out their first pokémon – Marowak for Hope and a lapras for Pryce – it became clear that this battle would be all business. Even before Pryce called out the first command of the battle, it was obvious that he, like Hope, received no real enjoyment from battling.

And after that first move – the lapras's sheer cold attack – it became apparent that Pryce's pokémon were at a level that Eve had seen in very few pokémon before now. The immense blast of icy wind the emanated from the lapras's maw was so cold and so strong that every surface of the gym immediately frosted over. Eve shivered and frantically tried to warm the egg she was still carrying around, and both Basil and Katsu did their best to shake the frost off of themselves. Jenna seemed completely oblivious to the cold, however, and she continued to watch the battle with uninterrupted interest.

As strong as the attack was, the truly damaging part of the blast was, in truth, a very small gust of wind at its very core. This gust missed its mark, so much so that the ground-type Marowak wasn't even annoyed by the ice that clung to his hide.

But as Hope ordered a headbutt, Eve saw that the attack had been a success. The ground had been heavily affected by the cold. The sand battlefield that was standard for any gym had been completely frozen over. Not only did this make it more difficult for Marowak to execute his headbutt, but it also made it much easier for the lapras to slide out of danger.

The battle moved quickly, yet the pokémon involved had such endurance that the first match-up alone took nearly fifteen minutes to complete. The attacks and movements of the pokémon were so quick that it seemed to Eve that the pokémon were starting their techniques before their trainers even said their orders. And the numerous attacks that landed were brutal both in their strength and their execution; a bone club to the head, ice shards to the eyes, an iron tail to the neck, and other similar tactics were used in this first match-up alone.

As the lapras was finally beginning to tire out, Jenna suddenly spoke up. "So you two didn't even know that much about someone you travel with, huh? That is, about the fact that Pryce was Hope's grandpa. How much _do _you know about her?"

"I don't know how much Katsu knows," Eve replied, unable to take her eyes from the battle, "but Marowak told me a little. I guess her parents were killed when the old Team Rocket used them to lure out Marowak's mother. Both she and Marowak were orphaned because of it."

Katsu looked over to Eve, ashamed shock on his face. "She was orphaned? If I'd known that… Well, I guess I've never necessarily been mean to her, but I've sort of detested her for how careless she is about life. Basil, you mentioned it once yourself, didn't you? You told me how she doesn't even care for her own life."

Basil flicked his ears, surprised at being addressed so directly by Katsu. Yet this wasn't completely new; ever since the occurrence at the Lake of Rage, he'd been much more respectful not only to Basil but to all the pokémon he was in contact with on a regular basis. The truth was, Eve wasn't the only one who had been altered by everything that had happened at the lake.

It wasn't only his respect towards pokémon that had changed. Eve couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was definitely something else very different about him. He was more reflective, and he looked at everything around him in a new light; but though Eve noticed these things, the thing that made him so different stayed hidden from Eve's perception. No matter how much she tried to puzzle through it, she simple could not divine this ultimate cause that somehow changed so much and so little at once.

Eve thought on this matter for only a moment before saying to Katsu, "Yeah, I remember when Basil said that to you. But what does that have to do with the fact that she's orphaned?"

"Death is a tough thing to get over," Katsu said. "Maybe it's something she's never been able to recover from. I've hated her for her attitude towards death, but until now I've never really thought about _why_ she doesn't care about death. Maybe it's her way of coping."

Something within Eve disagreed with this statement. _I really don't think that Hope is just coping… As sad as it is, I think that her apathy is just how she is._

But before she could speak up and say as much, Jenna said, "So you know that little about your friend? If that's the case, then you'll probably get killed more quickly by your perceived friends than by your enemies. Now, if you _really _wanted to know some more about her, I could be persuaded to let you in on some things."

Eve turned away from the battle. "Really? And how would you know anything about her?" she asked.

"I just happen to live in the same town that she grew up in," Jenna replied, though she continued to watch the battle. "My husband's folks are from Lavender Town, and he found that for a paranormal investigator, there's a pretty constant supply of customers in a place so infested by ghosts. I learned a good bit about Hope during a case that we thought involved the ghost of her marowak's mother, and the rest I know through small town gossip. So, wanna hear what I know? It's a pretty tragic story all told, and I love being the bearer of bad news."

"I'd rather like to hear it," Eve admitted. "I doubt that Hope would care whether we know or not."

"All right, then; let's watch the end of this match-up, and then I'll let you in on what I've heard. Looks like the lapras is reaching its limit."

When Eve looked back to the battle, she saw that Jenna was right. The lapras's movements were becoming sluggish, and her attacks weren't as powerful as they had been towards the beginning of the battle. Despite the type advantage, lapras simply couldn't stand against the strength of Hope's marowak.

Pryce realized this, and he did the only thing left for him to do. "Perish song," he commanded.

The lapras opened its mouth wide, and a tune both creepy and mournful began to fill the air, in a voice that was surprisingly clear. The melody appeared to pain both Marowak and the lapras herself, yet she continued singing regardless of the hurt. Even though Marowak would have free reign with attacks so long as the lapras was singing, it didn't seem likely that he could knock her out before the song finished and its effects set it.

"Bonemerang," Hope said. "Into the lapras's mouth."

The bone was zooming through the air even before Hope finished talking, much too quickly for Pryce to tell his lapras to stop her singing and dodge. The tune cut off abruptly as the bone lodged itself at the back of Lapras's mouth. Lapras immediately began coughing, pained shudders wracking her body. The bone had broken through the weak tissue of the mouth; though she managed to cough the bone out, a large amount of blood came out with it. Even more dribbled down from her mouth as she attempted to keep her head upright.

She really was at her limit now, and Pryce knew it. He calmly recalled her to her pokéball, then sent out a pokémon that reached almost halfway up to the ceiling. Eve didn't know what this mammoth of a pokémon was, but Jenna quickly enlightened her.

"Aw, a mamoswine," she said. "Impressive. Anyway, back to the matter of Hope. So here's what I've heard. As you already know, Hope's grandpa is Old Man Winter over there. As you probably don't know, Old Man Winter's brother is a man named Mr. Fuji, who's probably the biggest softy in all of Kanto; he takes in orphaned pokémon and raises them himself. More on him later. Anyway, Old Man Winter has always been sort of distant, but he did manage to fall in love once. He got married to that woman he fell in love with, but she died while giving birth to a son.

"That son was Hope's father. Now, Old Man Winter became even colder and more distant when his wife died, and Hope's father grew up resenting this. He admired his Uncle Fuji much more than his old man, and as such became a pokémon activist like his uncle. He even married one of those nuts from Fiore or Almia or someplace like that – you know, those countries that outlaw pokéballs.

"You know most of the next part of the story; Hope's mom was friends with the marowak, and so both of Hope's parents were used by Team Rocket to lure out the marowak. You can sell they're skulls for a pretty penny, after all. Hope's parents, the marowak, and most of the marowak's children were killed. Hope and her cubone were the only ones left after the massacre. After that, both Mr. Fuji and Pryce claimed the girl as their own, Pryce because she was his granddaughter and Fuji because he had had more to do with her upbringing up until that point. In the end, the courts made a compromise. So she lived with Pryce during the summer and Fuji during the school year. I guess she sort of ran away from home when she was ten or eleven or something, and Pryce and Fuji didn't hear much from her after that."

~Sounds like she had a tough life,~ Basil commented.

Eve nodded. "My dad kinda hates me, but even that's better than having no dad at all. Especially if I'd had to live with someone like Pryce for half of my childhood."

"Hey, I'm not done with the story!" Jenna said. "There's still one more thing, which is either insignificant or essential, depending on how you want to think of your friend over there."

"And what's that?" Katsu asked.

Jenna grinned. "I've talked with that Fuji guy before, and he said that she was kind of distant even before her parents died. So maybe it doesn't even matter how harsh her childhood was; maybe she would have been the same heartless girl either way. I like to think that that's the case; takes a pretty interesting person to be unchanged when her parents die when she's only five."

Katsu's fists clenched. "Don't joke about stuff like that," he said. "Life and death both deserve more respect than you give them."

Jenna laughed. "You're just like your little girlfriend! Eve said exactly the same thing yesterday! That's precious, you know?"

Katsu and Eve both blushed slightly, but Katsu didn't respond in any way; he just kept on glaring. Jenna pretended not to notice, and instead watched with fascination as an ice beam froze the already tired marowak. Though he'd gotten in some good hits towards the end, two pokémon in a row with a type advantage against him was just a bit too much.

Spinarak came out next; she was knocked out relatively quickly, being a bug type, but she managed to get her webs all over the floor before being recalled to her pokéball. Hope's pokémon would have traction again, and any other pokémon like lapras would be severely hindered. She also managed to poison the mamoswine, which made it all too easy for Sneasel to finish him off when he was sent out next.

Pryce sent out a weavile after the mamoswine, since she would be able to match sneasel's speed. Despite the fact that she was evolved, the weavile actually seemed to be the one at the power and speed disadvantage; after about five minutes of claw-to-claw speed dueling, it was obvious that Sneasel was indeed the stronger of the two. Pryce's weavile wasn't going to go down without a fight, though, at least not so long as the right strategy could easily give her the upper claw.

Such was the state of things when Basil stirred from his position on top of the egg in Eve's lap. He suddenly jumped onto of Eve's head and perked up his ears, listening closely in the direction of the gym's entrance.

"What's up?" Eve asked.

Basil leaped off of her head and started heading towards the door. ~Follow me!~ he said. ~It sounds like you're going to be needed outside in just a-~

He was interrupted as a booming bark suddenly rang through the gym from the outside, hardly muffled despite the walls it came through. ~Eve!~ the familiar bark said. ~Eve! We have to go!~

"Aiden?" Eve said, more confused than anything. She quickly stood up and began running past the battlefield and to the gym's entrance, her pace slowed somewhat by the burden of the aerodactyl egg.

"What's going on?" Katsu asked, following Eve as she hurried away. "That was Aiden's bark just now, wasn't it?"

Eve nodded. "I'm not sure what's up, but it sounds like Aiden thinks that I need to go somewhere. I can only imagine the chaos he caused running through city streets to get here… But just wait in here, I'll go talk some sense into him. I'll probably need to escort him back to the pokémon center, too, so if I don't come back for the rest of the battle, just meet me back there. Okay?" Eve had paused at the door, not wanting to open it until she was ready to give her full attention to Aiden; Basil stood at her feet, ready for anything.

"Alright, sounds good," Katsu said, grinning slightly as he turned to go back to his seat. "Good luck with that. By the sound of how upset Aiden must be, you'll need it."

Eve watched him for a moment as he walked back to where Jenna was, and watched for a moment longer as she saw that those involved in the battle hadn't been at all disturbed by the booming barks. Then she quickly opened the doors and emerged into the midday sunlight.

~Eve! Come on, we need to hurry!~ Aiden said, whining as soon as he caught sight of Eve. Several people had gathered on the opposite side of the street to observe the arcanine; now, seeing whose trainer it was, their curious glances were replaced with withering glares.

Eve took no note of them, however, and instead looked at Aiden with concern. He was visibly anxious, but Eve couldn't even begin to imagine what the problem could be. "What do you mean, we have to hurry?" Eve asked. "You should be back at the pokémon center. Your leg's almost better, but you shouldn't be stressing out like this while it's finishing its healing."

~We've got to hurry because the Great Ones want to speak to you!~ Aiden said. ~Entei is calling me! And I can't just ignore it!~ His ears were pinned back against his head and his tail was limp, as if to show just how helpless he felt. ~So come on! Let's go!~ he tensely laid himself down on the ground so that Eve could climb onto his back.

"Oh," Eve said in response. "That changes things a bit." She had a moment of hesitation, her fear of the legends battling her newfound desire for the strength that they offered. But the truly indecisive Eve no longer existed; in her place was a eighteen-year-old who knew exactly what she wanted, and who knew that she would do everything in her power to get it. Eve and Basil both jumped onto Aiden's back (Eve being careful not to jostle her egg too much), and then the three of them were off, dashing down city streets in a northerly direction.

Aiden sped up his pace as he exited the main city streets and entered onto the broad abandoned path that led to the Lake of Rage. Their apparent destination didn't trouble Eve so much as whom they were going towards. But as the lake itself came into view, Aiden suddenly veered off to the right so that he was heading in a generally northeast direction. Eve had to duck down to avoid the branches that Aiden pushed his way through. This was one of the disadvantages of being so large; forests suddenly became a real navigation hassle.

The arcanine had been running at full speed for nearly half an hour when the forest began to dissipate and the ground beneath them became noticeably steeper and rockier. Instinctually, Eve leaned over the aerodactyl egg and buried her face and hands in the arcanine's fur as a defense against the frigid air; the farther north they went and the higher into the mountains they climbed, the colder and colder it got. In summer, it wouldn't have been so bad; but Johto proper was already falling into the grip of fall, which meant that this obscure part of the country was absolutely freezing.

They'd probably been on the move for nearly an hour when Eve felt Aiden slow to a stop. Not once during the journey had he grown tired, even despite his slight limp; Eve got the feeling that he could have kept up that pace for hours without running out of breath. Eve lifted her face out of the warm fur and pushed herself upward so that she was once again sitting upright at the base of the arcanine's neck. She shivered as she did so, in part because of the cold but also in part because of the sight she now beheld.

Aiden was currently standing on a very large and flat projection of rock that jutted from the face of the largest mountain that Eve had ever seen. The white clouds that drifted above her head were so close that they appeared just out of reach. When she looked away from this main mountain, she noticed that it was but one of a larger mountain range, which extended as far north and as far south as Eve's eyes could make out. There were no trees at this altitude; the timberline was several hundred feet below her.

As if this wasn't awe-inspiring enough, six pokémon stood in front of Eve on the other side of the projection. She was already acquainted with Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, though the sight of them took her breath away just as if she'd never even heard of creatures so majestic. The other three appeared to be birds perched on the side of the mountain, yet they were so large that Eve wasn't sure if a term that applied to pidgey and spearow could also apply to them.

The first she noticed because it lit up its surroundings even though the sun was still high in the sky. Its tan-colored body in and of itself was not all that interesting, aside from its size. What caught Eve's eye was the bright red fire the billowed from its head, wings, and tail. It was as if a comet shooting across the night sky had decided to take on an earthly form for the day, so that it might not be forgotten with the banished darkness.

The next bird was bright yellow in color, and jagged in every single aspect. His wings had two layers to them, one a rough sheet of yellow and the other, which lay on top of it, a similar layer of black. The feathers of his head – if they could be called feathers – created a sort of serrated mane around his face. Sparks continuously flew from his body, and Eve felt Basil sparking in reaction to the great amount of electricity that he released into the air.

The final bird was by far the most elegant of the trio. He was covered in a beautiful, almost translucent plumage of blue feathers; they glittered and gleamed in the cold white light that came from the sun and the warm red glow of the fire bird's body. It's chest was covered in even fluffier feathers, though these were white rather than blue. Extending upwards from his beak were three crystal like protrusions, and his willowy tail feathers were nearly as long again as the rest of his body. On closer examination, Eve managed to find the reason for the almost shimmering quality of his feathers; though they appeared normal at first, they actually seemed to be made of ice, constantly melting and refreezing to give it the characteristic motion of actual plumage.

Each of these birds singly was remarkable in his own right; together, they were absolutely stunning.

Instinctively, Eve slid off of Aiden's back and stood next to him. She forced herself to breathe, though she quickly regretted it as the cold dry air entered her lungs and started a wave of coughs. Her head spun slightly, and stars danced in front of her eyes. She suddenly found it difficult to continue standing, especially with the unbalancing weight of the egg hanging on her stomach.

_There's not enough air up here_, she thought to herself as she did her best to recover. _At least, not really enough for my lungs right now. They have trouble enough under normal conditions._ But despite her light-headedness, she quickly straightened back up and choked back the coughs. She took a couple of deep breaths, and the dizziness went away.

~That's a terrible sounding cough,~ the fiery bird said. He bent down, as if to get a better look at Eve. ~Would you prefer to go somewhere a little less high? I know that the air up here can be a bit of a shock for land creatures that aren't used to it.~

Eve shook her head, still trying to regain her breath. "No, I'm fine. I've just been a little sick lately." Somehow, she felt much less intimidated by these birds than she had been by the Raikou, Entei, and Suicune upon first meeting them. Maybe she was getting used to seeing legends in the flesh. Or perhaps it was the fact that these three birds seemed much more casual and much less aggressive than the almost menacing Raikou and Entei. "If you don't mind me asking… You're Moltres, correct? And Zapdos and Articuno?" she said, looking at them each in turn.

~Aw, I see she's fairly smart,~ Articuno said. ~Then again, I guess we are pretty awesome. A lot of humans probably know who we are.~

A small spark arced from Zapdos's body to Articuno, causing the ice-type to jump up slightly in surprise. ~Shut it, you egotistic bird brain,~ he said. Then, turning his dagger-like beak to Eve, he said, ~And yes, we're Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno. The Legendary Birds, if you will. And if these three,~ he gestured to Raikou, Entei, and Suicune with his wing, ~are to be believed, then you're Eve. That's your name, right?~

Eve nodded. "Yes," she said; she had questions, but she didn't know exactly how to go about asking them.

~Well, she's a not-human if I've ever seen one,~ Moltres said. ~Then again, I guess I actually _haven't_ seen one before. But it's sort of something that you just know.~

"Wait… You haven't seen someone like me before?" Eve asked. "But you guys have been around for a long time, right? And if you're for Lugia like what Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are for Ho-oh, then you would've had to… Right?"

Zapdos began preening his feathers. ~We didn't take this job until Lugia asked us. That was about 150 years ago now, I guess, when that stupid Ho-oh and that other jerk of a Great One attacked Brass Tower. Before then, our sole responsibility was herding the seasons – you know, Moltres helps spring and summer along, Articuno's got fall and winter, and I cover all the stormy phenomena that they can't handle. We still do that, of course, but we decided to help Lugia out as well.~

Entei and Raikou both growled. ~Don't speak about Ho-oh in such a way!~ Raikou said. They both looked poised to pounce. Eve moved closer to Aiden, afraid that there might be a fight.

Zapdos simply continued preening. ~Shut it, flea-bags. If you're siding with Ho-oh, then you're just as full of hot air as he is. He thinks he's so awesome, trying to kill off humanity. He was even stupid enough to try to convince me and my brothers to help him at one point; we refused. And that other Great One is such a conceited featherhead that she wouldn't even tell me her name. Just 'cause she's got a bit more spark than me doesn't mean I can just be looked down upon!~

~Whose egotistical now?~ Articuno asked, and was rewarded with another chiding spark.

Entei and Raikou were hardly pacified by the further criticism. ~Now guys, let's calm down some,~ Moltres said, noticing how close they were to taking action against Zapdos. ~Just in case you've forgotten, we have a guest. And if we get into a battle, then I can't guarantee that this ledge won't collapse. And then where will we be? Poor little Eve would probably die, you guys would be injured, and me and my brothers would just fly off to keep our eyes open for the next not-human. Not to mention, me and my brothers have hundreds of years of power and experience on our side. You guys might be strong, but you need to know your place.~

~Entei… Raikou… Moltres is right,~ Suicune said tentatively. ~We've got to-~

~You be silent!~ Entei barked. ~You have no right to speak to Raikou and me, you traitor!~

Suddenly, sparks rained from Zapdos's body, showering everyone with painful jolts of electricity. Eve did her best to shield the egg, pressing it against Aiden's leg so that it was almost hidden from view. The electricity wasn't actually that damaging, but it certainly turned everyone's attention to the now glowering Zapdos. ~All right, my patience is wearing thin with both you and Raikou. That Suicune has more spirit and more brains than the two of you combined, and you'd do best not to abuse her, either verbally or otherwise. Now shut yer mouths before I get really angry. Got it?~

Raikou bowed his head in submission, recognizing whose power was greater. Entei, on the other hand, stood defiantly; but he did indeed keep his mouth shut.

Almost immediately, Zapdos's personality changed. Whereas one moment he'd been furious, he now returned to his almost careless demeanor. He turned his head back to Eve, who was watching all this intently from her position next to Aiden's leg. Both Aiden and Basil were furious at Zapdos for throwing his electricity around and hurting Eve.

~Sorry about that,~ he said sincerely to Eve and her pokémon. ~Didn't mean to hurt all you guys. My anger gets the better of me sometimes, though its _nothing_ like Moltres's when he gets stoked up enough. Ain't that right, Mr. Hothead?~

Moltres bobbed his head, unperturbed by the statement. ~True enough, true enough. Anyway, isn't there something that we all came here to talk about? You know, the whole reason we had Entei call that arcanine in the first place.~

~And the reason why Eve's here,~ Articuno said critically. ~Really, Zapdos – you're all beak and no brain half the time, going out of your way to annoy everyone else when you've got better things to do.~

Zapdos glared at Articuno, but didn't respond to the taunt. Instead, he shook his head and looked back to Eve. ~Okay, they're right. Eve, we've been told that you already know what Lugia embodies. Is this true?~

Sensing that things were getting a bit more serious now, Eve stepped out from Aiden's shadow. Basil stayed on Aiden's head, feeling that this was between Eve and the legends. Still, he stayed poised to jump to her aid if he was needed, though he knew that he'd be practically useless against all the legends.

"It's unity, right?" Eve said, looking past the legendary beasts and straight at Zapdos. Unlike her last encounter with legendary pokémon, Eve spoke with surety. The fear she had felt before, though not completely gone, was muffled by what had happened at the Lake of Rage. Whether it was apathy or newfound confidence that aided her was hard to say; but whatever the case, the slight trembling of her hands was the only noticeable sign of trepidation. "That's what Suicune told me, and she was there the last time someone tried to summon Lugia."

~Yes, it's unity,~ Zapdos confirmed. ~So tell me: what exactly do you think that means? What is unity to you?~

Eve thought for a moment. "Well, I think it comes from understanding and respect between two beings… It grows from those things into a sort of bond, I suppose. A bond that makes both beings stronger."

~Beings?~ Articuno chirped up. ~Why not say between two pokémon or between two people?~

"Because I think it can be between a person and a pokémon, too," Eve said, turning her gaze towards Entei; Entei, in turn, glared at her, clearly unhappy with what she was saying. "In fact, I think the bonds between humans and pokémon can be even stronger than a bond between two humans or two pokémon. Humans and pokémon complement each other, and such a relationship requires an even deeper level of trust."

Moltres's fire grew brighter, and Eve broke away from Entei's stare. ~Wonderfully put,~ Moltres said, quickly dimming his fire when he saw that Eve was squinting. ~I couldn't agree more, though I'll admit that Lugia has never enlightened us on the specifics of what unity actually is. Either way, I think that understanding should be good enough to summon her. Now, you also know that you need a human who represents those qualities that you just described, right?~

Eve nodded.

~So have you thought of anyone who matches that? Or, rather, I suppose it'd almost have to be two someones, since it's unity… I'm not entirely sure how it works. But at least one of them has to be human.~

~If I may,~ Suicune interjected, ~I might know a little bit about this. Yellow thought that my trainer matched the description, but she insisted that she, my trainer, and I be the only ones at the summoning. I don't know how it would work with two humans, and I'm not even sure if Lugia would have been summoned by us… But Yellow thought that setup would work for a human-pokémon bond.~

"That's good to know," Eve said, "because the human I'm thinking of represents unity through the bond with his pokémon. His name is Mark, and he has an abra that helps him see. They're really an amazing combination; I've never seen a human and a pokémon more in tune with one another."

Zapdos sparked excitedly. ~Sounds perfect to me. So how quickly can you make it back to Burned Tower with this Mark person? The summoning will have to take place there.~

"Mark's already in Ecruteak," Eve said. "And it won't take me too long to get over there. But he still doesn't know anything about all this, so I need some time to fill him in and make sure he's okay with everything. Why don't we do it three nights from now? I don't want to do it in the day, simply because I'm afraid we'd draw too much attention. Even at night we won't go unnoticed."

Moltres clacked his beak together in a laugh. ~We won't go unnoticed even in the days leading up to the summons. We're gonna need to hang around Ecruteak, so the weather's going to be pretty strange around there until we leave. I mean, we've only been here a couple hours, and look at what's happening.~

Eve looked up and noticed that the clouds were rapidly darkening, though it had been mostly clear and very sunny when she had arrived.

~Even if you can't make it on that exact night, don't worry about it,~ Articuno said. ~Just show up at the tower as soon as possible. We're amazing enough that we'll just know when you're ready.~

~We will remain in the area around Ecruteak as well,~ Suicune said. ~I believe my brothers wish to speak with you concerning the summoning of Ho-oh once your business with Lugia is finished. If you haven't already been doing so, you should keep an eye out for anyone who would be a match for Ho-oh's power.~

Eve nodded. "I already have someone in mind… I'm just not sure yet if she's quite the right match."

~You all can worry about that later,~ Zapdos said. ~For now, is there anything else that needs to be said? Anyone? Oh, you two can talk again, if you need,~ he glared down at Raikou and Entei, as if daring them to take him up on the offer; neither bothered. ~All right, then, let's all get goin'. I'd say we've stayed here chatting for long enough. We'll see you in a few nights, Eve!~ On that note, he and his brothers took off; they disappeared into the storm clouds that seemed to crawl around the mountains.

Suicune bowed her head to Eve. ~We'd best leave as well. Please take care of yourself; though you do a good job of covering it up, you seem to be very sick. I doubt the strain of carrying around that egg is helping.~

"But I have to look out for it," Eve insisted.

~If that's the case, then there's nothing more you can do about that part of your problem,~ Suicune replied. ~But you should figure out how to fix that cough before you continue to strain yourself through your care of the egg.~

Eve didn't respond. The only way she'd be able to get rid of the cough would be by not talking to Blight anymore, but that hardly seemed fair to the ghost, especially considering how much Blight liked to be out around others.

Suicune saw that Eve was troubled, but she decided it was best to let the matter drop. Instead, she turned her gaze to Aiden. ~Arcanine, can you find your way back to wherever it is you and Eve need to be?~

~Of course!~ Aiden said, straightening up.

~Then my brothers and I shall leave as well,~ Suicune said. ~Best of luck to you.~

~And remember to keep looking for a powerful human,~ Entei said, finally conquering the silent rage towards Zapdos that had been storming within him this entire time. ~And do not be so sure about where you stand concerning humans and pokémon… There is more that you do not yet know. If you remain unreasonable even when you know what I will tell you, then understand that things cannot end in any way but tragedy.~ And with that he bounded off, followed closely by Raikou; Suicune gave Eve an apologetic look, and then leaped after her brothers. Within moments, the three of them were gone completely from sight.

_They're faster than the wind… Just as the legends say, _Eve thought to herself as she watched them disappear. Then she turned her attention to Aiden and Basil, both of whom were looking at her expectantly.

"That's that, I guess," Eve said, trying to be calming. She could tell that neither one of them was quite comfortable with this situation. "I'll be summoning Lugia in a couple days, if everything goes according to plan. Really, don't worry about it. Everything will be fine. After all, Moltres and Zapdos and Articuno were nice enough, and they said they were friends with Lugia even before they were technically involved with her."

Agitated sparks flew from Basil's fur. ~I still don't like it. I don't like any of this. I wish you didn't have to talk to these legends at all… They all seem so unpredictable.~

Aiden barked in agreement as he lowered himself to the ground. ~That Zapdos especially. He was fine one minute, then angry the next.~

Eve climbed onto his back without responding, being careful yet again not to harm the egg in the process; the longer she had it, the more she found herself thinking about its safety rather than her own. Basil wormed his way into the fur right next to Eve, and as soon as everyone was ready, the arcanine began running down the mountain back the way they came.

The sky got darker and darker as they got closer to town; apparently, the storm caused by the presence of the legendary birds was spreading. A sort of slushy sprinkle was coming down when they finally made it back to Mahogany Town. The foul weather matched Eve's mood; though she was still certain about the course she was going to take, she had doubts about whether or not she would be able to survive the ordeal.

Aiden's pokéball was still at the pokémon center, so she'd had to ride him through town and over the wall of the center's yard in order to get him back. The nurses there were apologetic, saying that it was their fault whenever patients manage to escape. They gave his leg an immediate examination; in spite of all the running, it actually seemed to have gotten better rather than worse. They wanted him to stay there just one more night to let it completely finish healing. Eve wasn't planning on heading to Ecruteak until the next day, so the timing of Aiden's release from their care would be perfect.

When Eve passed through the lobby to head back to her room, she suddenly saw Katsu running up to her. "Eve! Where have you been?" he asked. "The nurses here said that you never came back with Aiden… I was beginning to worry that something might have happened."

"Something _did _happen," Eve said tiredly; she just wanted to go back to her room, warm herself up, and go to sleep. "But it's nothing you need to worry about. How'd the battle go? Did Hope win?"

Katsu nodded. "It was amazing. It wasn't even all that close, despite the fact that Pryce was battling as hard as he could. I mean, her houndoom was the only pokémon she had left at the end, but she was still practically at full health. If this is how strong she is at age seventeen, then I can't wait to see where she'll be in a few years time."

"So where is she right now? And Jenna, for that matter?" Eve asked.

Katsu frowned. "Well, Hope said she was going to come on back to the pokémon center to get her pokémon healed. I would've waited and walked back with her, but I wanted to hurry back here to see what was taking you so long. I've been waiting around here for about thirty minutes, but I haven't seen Hope yet. And I don't know where Jenna was planning on going after the battle."

~Maybe she went on ahead to Ecruteak?~ Basil suggested; as usual, he was perched on Eve's shoulder. ~She did say that she wanted to battle the gym there again if she beat her grandpa, didn't she?~

Eve translated for Katsu's sake. "I suppose that could be it," she added after the translation. "Maybe she likes to walk in weather like this. She certainly won't be bothered by any travelers on the road this way."

"Speaking of the weather… You're soaked, Eve," Katsu said bluntly. "I guess you were probably going to your room to dry off when I caught sight of you. Don't let me stop you any longer, then."

She smiled and nodded her thanks; she really was sopping wet, and she desperately wanted to take a nice shower and have a quick nap. But as Katsu turned away, Eve said, "One more thing. I'm going to need to head back to Ecruteak tomorrow. If you see Jenna or Hope, could you let them know?"

Katsu looked at her, wondering why she would suddenly need to go back to Ecruteak. Up until now, she hadn't even mentioned it. But the questions in his head didn't make it to his mouth. "Sure, no problem. I can at least call Jenna and let her know, even if I don't see her. So… Meet here tomorrow morning, I guess?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Eve said. "See you then."

* * *

I didn't like my description of the birds as much as my original description of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune... But that's because I don't think that the birds are even close to as majestic as the legendary beasts. ^_^

You know, when I came into this chapter, I had no idea what the birds would act like... it just sort of happened. I ended up liking Zapdos the best, 'cause he's switches moods so easily. And it just seemed right somehow to make Articuno into a pompous 'featherbrain'.

Anyway, I really haven't got much writing done, and I probably won't get much done, so I'm just going to really have to make sure that I keep at it during the school year. I even cut back on my Birth By Sleep intake after almost a full day of nonstop playing, but then I got distracted with other things. In this case, it's finishing up the anime Clannad After Story, which is one of my friends' favorite anime and which is quickly becoming one of my favorites as well.

As always, thanks for reading!


	25. Unity

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Unity**

"So Eve, what's so important that we need to talk in here about it?" Mark asked as he closed the door of Eve's room at the Ecruteak Pokémon Center. "You've seemed more distracted than ever since you arrived yesterday. Are you sure you're okay after that whole thing at the Lake of Rage?"

Eve shook her head as she sat down on her bed, taking Basil off of her shoulder and putting him on top of the aerodactyl egg; this was quickly becoming one of his favorite spots to sit. "No, that's not what's been bothering me. Well, I mean, it does bother me, but that's not the real reason why I've been distracted. The fact is, I haven't been telling you the whole truth about what Raikou, Entei, and Suicune said to me when I met them in Burned Tower."

Mark looked at her curiously for a few moments, his sightless gaze neither accusatory nor completely accepting. Then he dropped his eyes and pulled out the chair of the small wooden desk that was in Eve's lodgings. He sat down, and though he was now about even with Eve as far as height went, he kept his eyes looking off towards one side of the room. "You told me before that those legends want you to seek out five powers or something," he said, "and that Ho-oh and Lugia each possess one of these powers. To be honest, you were incoherent when you talked about all the other details, so I don't remember much more than that. So there's something else you kept hidden?"

"Yes," Eve said, her voice unregretful. Though Mark kept his eyes averted, Eve focused her gaze on Mark without even a glance at anything else. "What I said to you was true, but there's more to it than what I told you and what you remember. I would leave it unsaid, but it actually may concern you enough that you deserve to know. At least, it concerns you if you want it to. It's your choice." Here Eve paused, as if giving Mark a chance now to object and leave before anything else was said.

Instead, he leaned a little closer in his chair. "Go on," he said, his tone and expression a carefully maintained mask; Eve recognized this strict control of his emotions from his political campaigning. It was helpful whenever he wasn't quite certain what the most tactful way to react was.

Eve sighed, then continued, "The thing is, this isn't just some random quest that they chose me for. If I can collect the five 'powers' or whatever it was they were talking about, then I, uh, sort of have a lot of power. As in, enough power that Raikou and Entei sort of want me to obliterate the human race – which of course I wouldn't do, because that's just stupid. I'm just pointing out that this is the kind of power they think I would have."

Mark let his emotionless mask fall for a few moments as a smile crept across his face. "If there's anyone I'd trust with that sort of power, it's you. I can't imagine you punishing even the worst person in the world unless you had a very, _very _good reason."

_What about the thing with the Gyarados? What would happen if you had the sort of power you speak of and then got angry?_ Tim asked Eve, his telepathy hardly more than a buzzing in her brain after several weeks of getting used to it. Mark knew that Tim was talking, and waited expectantly for Eve to translate; knowing that she couldn't lie her way around the tough question, she repeated it.

Mark's expression darkened. "Tim has a point. I really hadn't thought it possible until now. You getting angry, that is. If you're seeking out this power – you are seeking it out, right?" Eve nodded, so he continued, "In that case, how can you be trusted with that much power? You said yourself that it was partly because of you that those gyarados attacked."

Eve sighed again, though this time it sent her into a short coughing fit. "There's more to that, too, that I haven't told you," Eve said when she recovered, more resigned than anything. Even though she knew that Mark might resent being kept in the dark about so many things, that possibility no longer seemed to matter so much. What _did _matter was making sure that he would help her meet Lugia. "The reason why it was partly my fault is because I was angry at those humans, and I unconsciously used that anger to help the magikarp evolve. That's another thing the legendary beasts told me – just like Yellow could apparently heal pokémon, I can help them to evolve under the right conditions."

"That doesn't answer my question," Mark said, scowling ever so slightly as he brushed off this new revelation. "How can you be trusted with a lot of power if you can let it get out of control so easily? I don't ask it to be mean or anything, and I'm sorry if there's more you need to say and I'm interrupting you. But it's something you need to think about."

"I have been thinking about it," Eve said. "A lot. And I've been talking about it with my pokémon some – at first only with Basil," at the mention of his name Basil sparked happily, though he said nothing, "but then I later let everyone else in on the conversation. Pebble – he's my newest friend, a dratini who I met at the lake – put it the best way. He said that even if there's a large chance that evil could come out of it, I should try for it as long as there's that small chance for good. Celebi told me that pokémon and humans are unbalanced, and I've seen it plenty of times since then; if I can fix it, then I think I should at least try."

Mark stood up, flipped his chair around, then sat back down so that he could cross his arms at the top of the chair and rest his chin on them. Eve wasn't entirely sure why he would bother with it; but when she looked back at him once he was done rearranging his position, his cloudy eyes were finally looking at her again. "Perhaps not the most sound argument as far as logic goes, since it relies solely on hope," he said. "Nonetheless, it is a good reason, and I support your search for this 'power' or whatever if that's the case. But anyway, why did you feel compelled to tell me about all this? And why now?"

"I'm talking to you now because I'm going to have to take the first step of this process tomorrow night," Eve said. "I met up with Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno two days ago, with Aiden's help. We arranged to try to summon Lugia tomorrow evening. And I'm telling you because Lugia is the being of unity, and I apparently need a human who represents this quality in order to make the summons a success. I think you and Tim represent unity perfectly."

For once, Mark looked rather dumbfounded. "Wait. You mean I need to help you summon _the _legendary Lugia? The god that I give honor to?"

"Only if you want to," Eve added. "But yes, that's pretty much it. I don't think you need to even do anything. Best news is that Lugia seems to be pretty sympathetic, if the legendary birds are to be believed. Which they are, I think."

_Will I get to come with him? _Tim asked to both Basil and Eve.

"Of course you can go with him," Eve said to Tim. "I mean, you're part of the bond that I need to summon Lugia. At least, I think you are; I'm really just hoping that Yellow was right about pokémon-to-human unity. So… What do you say, Mark and Tim? I can't guarantee that it won't be dangerous – especially since Tim really should be the only pokémon you bring up with you – but I feel like I have to do it."

Eve heard a slight exhale of breath hiss between Mark's teeth as he looked at her, his expression betraying nothing of whatever deliberations were going on in his mind.

Finally, he stood up and said, "All right, I'm in so long as Tim's up for it. It might be crazy, but I'll do it. I believe in you, Eve; if you feel called to do this, then it's gotta be the right thing to do." Eve half blushed, half cringed at this comment; it sounded corny even considering the circumstances.

_It should prove interesting,_ Tim said, _so you can tell Mark that I look forward to it._

Eve translated, and Mark reached up and patted his abra on the leg. "You're just a troublemaker; you probably just want to go so you can play a trick on Lugia. Just don't get her too angry with us, okay?"

_We'll see, _was Tim's response as he tapped his tail against Mark's back.

"Anyway, you say it's tomorrow evening, then?" Mark asked as he moved a little closer to the door.

"Yeah."

"In that case, I'm going to head out," he said, pushing open the door out of Eve's room. "You've certainly given me a lot to think about for one evening, and since we've got more campaigning to do tomorrow, I doubt I'll have time to dwell on it then."

"Um, okay," Eve said, somewhat surprised that he had agreed so readily; for some reason, she'd half been expecting him to refuse his help. "Watch out for the weather out there… I heard it's going to keep switching between rain and sleet and snow for the rest of the night."

Mark grinned and pointed up to Tim. "Remember? I can teleport. Makes avoiding the rain pretty easy, for the most part. Anyway, as I was saying, see you later."

Eve was going to say bye when Basil suddenly jumped off of the aerodactyl egg and ran over to Mark's feet; Mark paused, already halfway out the door.

"Do you need something, Basil?" he asked.

But Basil ignored him, and instead looked up to Tim. His ears and tail were trembling; Eve hadn't noticed his anxiety during her conversation with Mark, but he obviously had something important to say now.

~Tim, could you please watch out for Eve while you're up there at the tower tomorrow night?~ Basil asked. ~She's making me and all of her other pokémon stay in Katsu's care until she gets back, and I'm worried that she'll get into trouble up there.~

_Not a problem_, the abra said. _I think I'm fast enough that I'll be able to teleport the three of us out of danger, if it comes to that. Don't worry about it._

Mark looked back and forth from Eve to Basil for a few moments, sensing that Tim had said something but unaware of the content of the conversation. Then he shrugged and disappeared; the only sign that anyone had been there barely a second before was the open door.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So this is it, huh?" Mark said, trying to speak over the sound of the freezing rain that was falling around them; he, Eve, and Tim had just teleported into the basement of Burned Tower.

Eve coughed, her lungs shocked by the sudden change in temperature. They had been in the pokémon center lobby until a moment ago, which had been perfectly warm despite the nasty weather outside. Tim noticed her discomfort and quickly used protect, creating a barrier of energy above the group's head to protect them from the rain; it served a double purpose in the fact that the light that the energy emitted was the only way Eve could see in the pitch dark of the basement.

"Yeah, this is it," Eve said as she recovered from the coughing fit, ignoring the light-headedness that was becoming increasingly common.

"I don't sense anyone else here, though," Mark said. "Are you sure that Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos are coming tonight?"

Eve wrapped her jacket more tightly around herself. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's just a matter of waiting. They said they'd know when I show up, and that they'd be waiting somewhere nearby so that they could come as soon as they sensed me at Burned Tower. That's why the weather's been so messed up the last couple of days, I guess." A bolt of lightning flashed through the sky as if to emphasize her point, arcing several times from cloud to cloud before making its jagged dash to the ground.

Mark was quiet for about a minute. Then he said, "So did you ever find Hope? You told me yesterday that she left Mahogany without you, right?

"We're about to talk to legendary pokémon and you're asking about Hope?" Eve asked, an incredulous look on her face. Even as sure as she was that Lugia wasn't going to hurt her, she was still rather jittery about this whole thing.

Shrugging, Mark replied, "It's better than just standing around and doing nothing. So did you find her?"

Eve shook her head, her shoulders slumping. "No, I didn't. I asked the nurses at the pokémon center if she'd checked in over the last few days, but apparently she hasn't. And she hasn't brought her pokémon into the center either… I managed to talk to Morty, too, since Hope said that she would come back to challenge him. Morty remembered who I was talking about – I mean, I guess it's kinda hard to forget someone with such a noticeable scar across her face – but she hasn't come back to challenge him. I'm really worried about her."

"Sorry to bring it up, then," Mark said. "You've got enough to worry as it is."

"The thing is, I could see her going off without bothering to tell me or Katsu," Eve said. "But she wouldn't leave her pokémon injured, since they're no use to her when they're so badly beat up. And she wouldn't say that she would come back to challenge Morty if she wasn't intending on doing just that. And I feel bad, because I should be out looking for her. I mean, what if something really bad _did _happen to her? What if-"

She was interrupted as she saw something bright emerge from the clouds above them and streak towards them. Two more somethings followed in its wake, only visible thanks to the first one's light.

As the trio got closer, Eve grabbed Mark's arm and pulled him out of the way; they were too far away for him to sense them. "The birds are coming," Eve explained as they moved as close to the collapsed wall as they could manage. Tim ended his protect technique as they moved; what was left of the first floor shielded them more the closer to the wall they got.

A couple of seconds after they reached the edge of the basement, the three birds alighted one after another; though there was room enough for the three of them in the large room, landing was made difficult due to the spans of their enormous wings.

~Well, we made it,~ Moltres said, his light allowing Eve to see. ~Hope we didn't take too long; we've been circling in the sky all this time as high as we possibly could to avoid notice, so it took us a little bit of time to make our way back down here.~

Articuno began preening his feathers. ~So what do we do now? Just wait for Lugia?~

"You mean you don't know how to make her come?" Eve asked, wishing that she could have a chance to translate for Mark. Then again, he seemed so engrossed in the presence of the three legendaries that Eve wasn't completely sure that he would even care to hear what they were saying.

Zapdos sparked unhappily. ~No, we're not sure, exactly. I don't sense her coming right now,~ he said. ~Are you sure that this human represents unity?~

"Well, yes, I'm certain of that," Eve replied. "Maybe it's because Tim is here… He's the abra that's with Mark. Do you think he needs to leave?"

_Before this train of thought goes any farther, all of you should probably know that I'm not leaving without Mark,_ Tim said, his demeanor completely calm.

Mark, who could only understand Eve's parts of the conversation, also said, "If Lugia is the pokémon of unity, then I should be able to have Tim with me. Something tells me that Tim already said something of the same thing."

Moltres chirped happily. ~I suppose it's a good thing that you refuse that request, since you two are supposed to represent unity and all. Besides, I don't think making the abra leave is necessary. Zapdos and Articuno, don't you remember? I mean, it's been 150 years and all since Lugia told us what to do, but she did tell us. She said that once all the necessary beings were assembled – meaning us three plus the not-human and the human – then the not-human had to be the one who summoned her.~

~I vaguely remember that, now that you mention it,~ Articuno said, still preening his feathers. ~Okay, not-human, get to summoning. I don't have all night.~

"But how?" Eve asked. "How am I supposed to summon Lugia?"

Zapdos looked to Moltres. ~Didn't Lugia just say that she needs to focus? I sort of recall the conversation now.~

~Yeah, I think that was it. So just focus on the thought of Lugia coming here, Eve, and I think that'll do it,~ Moltres said. ~As soon as she senses the call, we'll know.~

"If I may ask, what's going on now, Eve?" Mark said.

"I guess I'm supposed to summon Lugia myself by thinking about her," Eve said. "Give me a minute… I'll go ahead and give it a try."

Eve closed her eyes, trying to block out everything aside from the thought of Lugia. However, this was harder than it seemed. She had never been a very focused individual, or so all her high school teachers had said of her. The chill of the rain didn't help her concentration, nor did the fact that almost all she could think about was that the birds, Mark, and Tim were probably all keeping their attention on her. It just felt awkward for her to stand there with her eyes closed with everyone else waiting expectantly.

Even more of a problem was the fact that she only had a vague idea of what Lugia was supposed to look like; no one had ever actually taken a photo of her, after all. Without even a solid image of her to picture in her head, trying to summon Lugia was a lost cause.

When she finally opened her eyes, she looked at Moltres and the others hopefully, believing that maybe Lugia had been summoned despite her terrible efforts. Zapdos was the one to break the news. ~Nope. Didn't work. You'll have to try again.~

"I'm not sure if I can do it," Eve said. "I just can't think of how to focus on Lugia well enough. Unless… Maybe…" She opened her hip pouch; since her pokéballs were with Katsu, it should have been empty. Yet she began to pull out several long, cylindrical pieces from the pouch, attaching them together one by one.

"Isn't that your pokéflute?" Mark asked as she finished putting the pieces together.

Eve nodded as she moved a few feet over, into a spot that was more fully protected from the rain. "Basil insisted that I take it along, since he wouldn't be there. He figured that it's my next best defense, since I know lullabies that can cause most pokémon to fall sleep. But I do know some old summoning songs as well… I figure that maybe I can focus on the melody, and since it's a summoning melody, it might bring Lugia."

~It sounds like it's worth a shot, at least,~ Zapdos said. ~Go for it.~

Eve raised the recorder-like instrument to her mouth and took a deep breath, then quickly brought it down again as she started coughing. It took a few seconds for the coughing to go away. "Well, that's embarrassing," she said to no one in particular, taking another couple of moments to catch her breath again. "Sorry about that. Guess I'll just have to take shallower breaths… Let me try again."

She closed her eyes, breathed in again, and began the song. Like most summoning pieces, it was a fairly basic and slow song that began with a simple melody. This short melody would then be repeated throughout the song with several variations. The particular song that Eve had chosen had an almost sorrowful sound to it, yet each of its individual phrases ended in a way that made her think more of hope than of sadness.

Even before the end of the first basic melody, Eve had forgotten why exactly she was playing; instead, all she had a mind for was the song itself. She hadn't played her this summoning song in a long time, and yet her fingers jumped easily from position to position; she reveled in the beauty of the rediscovered tune.

About halfway through the full piece, all of the birds perked up, though Eve didn't see because her eyes were still closed. ~You did it, Eve,~ Moltres said, her flames burning more brightly than before. ~Lugia is definitely coming now. We can feel it.~

Eve put down her pokéflute and breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. If that didn't work, then I'm not sure what would."

~You might as well keep on playing,~ Articuno said. ~It sounded nice, and we have nothing better to do while we wait for Lugia. She's been hanging out in the Whirl Islands, so no matter how fast she flies, it might take her a while to get there.~

~Yeah, the featherbrain is right for once. You should continue the song,~ Zapdos agreed. ~I enjoyed listening to it. It used to be that there were so many pokéflute players in the world… Nowadays, I barely ever get to hear it.~

_Even when there were more players, how did you get to listen to them? _Tim asked. _You rarely show yourselves to humans, if my understanding is correct._

Zapdos sparked, appearing amused that an abra would question him. ~That's not completely true. We're just careful about who we let see us. It's not hard to tell who's a danger and who's not, after all. We used to occasionally come down for festivals they held for us, and that's when we heard a lot of pokéflute tunes.~

~Quit talking about the past, and let's hear some music,~ Articuno said, opening his wings half way and flapping them impatiently.

Eve smiled, sort of embarrassed. "They want me to keep on playing pokéflute for them while we wait, since Lugia might take a little while to get here," she explained to Mark. "Do you mind?"

"Mind? Hardly," Mark said, a grin on his face. "I love listening to it. Please, play on."

Eve's face turned red, and she quickly brought the pokéflute to her lips to avoid answering his remark; compliments made her much too flustered to reply with any grace. She picked up her song at the spot she'd left off at. The sound of it and the motion of fingering the notes combined to ease some of the tension that had been building in Eve the last couple of days. She found it so much easier to not think about her problems while playing, making it just the sort of distraction that she needed right now.

She proceeded to play more songs after finishing the first one; it really was better than just waiting around. It was during her fifth song suddenly the weather went absolutely haywire; she barely sensed the oncoming change and put her pokéflute back in her pouch before the storm hit them with all its fury. The wind picked up, blowing so strongly that it knocked Eve to the ground despite the fact that she was a good twenty feet below ground level; lightning began to flash almost constantly, the thunder an unceasing roar that seemed to emerge from the clouds themselves; and the rain poured, the large drops hitting the ground in such a quantity that it actually competed with the thunder for dominance.

Eve pushed herself up from the ground and knelt in the ashy mud for nearly a minute as she coughed, her lungs irritated from being so suddenly slammed against the ground. As the fit continued, she felt herself swaying back and forth as her vision partially blacked out; between the coughing, the wind, and the rain, she simply couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She would have fallen to the ground again, but Mark knelt down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders just in time. Eve unconsciously pressed herself against his body, using him as a support as her coughing finally began to subside and her vision cleared.

"I'm getting you to a hospital once all this is over," Mark said in her ear, just loudly enough that she could hear him over the outrageous weather. He kept his arm tightly around her shoulders, as if unwilling to let go even now that the coughing was all but gone. "For whatever reason, you haven't wanted to get treatment, but this is going too far. Your lungs have really gotten worse since you left Ecruteak over a week ago. But for now, we have a visitor. Can you stand?"

Eve nodded, trying to save her breath for when she would really need it. Mark silently stood, his grip around Eve's shoulders tight enough to help her to her feet. Her head swam for a moment and she kept her gaze looking downwards; when her thoughts and vision cleared once again, she noticed that the rain had changed to a light sprinkle and that the wind and lightning had died down as well.

"Whenever you're ready, look up towards the surface," Mark whispered, his arm still helping to keep her standing.

Eve slowly looked up, and she gasped as her eyes fell upon the single largest pokémon that she had ever seen. She was a huge, white pokémon that perched at the edge of the ground. What had been left of the first-floor wall in front of her completely was completely demolished now, either through her own power or by the wind, allowing Eve to get a good look at as much of her body as was illuminated by Moltres's flame.

The pokémon was birdlike from what Eve could see, yet she was a bird unlike any that Eve had ever encountered. For one, her sleek feathers were pressed so tightly against her body that she appeared to be covered in skin rather than feathers. Also unusual was her tail, which she had wrapped around her talonless feet; this tail was serpentine, with two small, dark blue extensions sprouting from either side of the tip. The feathers on her wings were no different than those on her body. In fact, she appeared to have no flight feathers whatsoever, and the wings themselves ended in a wide hand-like shape. Like the tail, her neck was serpentine, and she used its length to her advantage as she bent down over the legendary birds to get a closer look at Mark and Eve.

_So you are the ones who summoned me this time, _Lugia said, her telepathy ringing through everyone's minds. Though the blue protrusions that surrounded her eyes gave her a fierce appearance, her demeanor was tender. _It has been years since I was last summoned. If I may ask, what are your names?_

Eve felt Mark trembling beside her, yet his voice was strong as he said, "My name is Mark. It is an honor to meet you."

_I'm Tim_, Tim said, though since he was an average pokémon, the name itself meant nothing to him.

"And I'm… I'm Eve," Eve said quietly, still relying on Mark to support her.

A gentle humming came from Lugia's throat. _It is a pleasure to meet you, Mark, Tim, and Eve. If you don't mind telling me, how much do you know, Not-Human? Or do you even know that you are, indeed, not truly human?_

Mark stiffened somewhat beside her, surprised by this information. Eve ignored him and took a step away from him, her legs unsteady. "Yes, I know that much," she said quietly, her throat sore from the coughing. "I know that if I go to you and four other pokémon like you and get a power from each of you, then I will have ability to destroy all humans, or all pokémon, or everyone in general. I don't know how it works, and Suicune thought it might possibly even control me if I get to that point. And I know that you represent unity, and Ho-oh represents strength… And whoever the other pokémon are, a legend I've read suggests that they represent life, death, and purpose."

_Then you know much already, _Lugia replied gently. _But there is more you must know before we proceed. Firstly, the power I can give to you does not come without its burdens. The pull of Fate shall become even stronger as soon as you take it. You will no longer be able to ignore the call to seek the other four powers, even if you know that doing so could be fatal. With only my power, you still might be able to resist Fate, though it would forever be at the back of your mind. But if you collect more powers, Fate's grasp on you shall strengthen. _

_You should also know that the individual powers do nothing except enhance those qualities that they represent. Only when joined together are they fully awakened. They are the qualities of existence, those shared by both humans and pokémon. Life, death, unity, power, and purpose… These five things are what mold us into who we are. When these essences of existence are bound together, they shall open the door for one of the Great Creators, a being named Arceus. He is the one who gave me and the other guardians the powers that locked him away. He was afraid that his great power might destroy his creations, the humans. If you summon him, his power shall be funneled through you so as to keep it under control, leaving you with the choice of what it shall be used for. Do you understand all of this so far?_

There were questions going through Eve's mind, but only concerning the details of what Lugia had just said. She nodded; she knew what she needed to know.

Lugia bent her head down a little closer. _In that case, let me ask you: what exactly do you seek this power for?_

"I've seen what pokémon and humans can do to each other," Eve said, "and I think that too much suffering and death has occurred already. I'm not sure what I'll be able to do, even with the explanation you just gave… But I feel like there's a chance I could correct it. That is why I want the power."

A contented humming rumbled through Lugia's throat once again. _I am glad to hear it. I, too, am uncertain if anything could be done to truly fix it, yet I hope that such a thing is possible. Even if you sought to destroy the world itself, I am obligated to give you the power you seek. And so, I ask you now: do you seek the Power of Unity that I can give to you?_

"Yes," Eve said.

Lugia closed her eyes, as if concentrating. _You have brought before me Mark, a human who represents unity well. You have summoned me through his presence, as well as yours. _

_Unity is the thing that binds existences to one another. An individual cannot be complete except when in a larger community with others. Unity is a bond that varies in strength from that of acquaintances to that of true, sacrificial love for others. True unity gives you strength and guidance in even the darkest of trials, whereas lack of it makes it easier for the darkness to consume you. It is something that can only be broken by those who are joined by its bond, for even death cannot truly make a bond disappear. So knowing this, do you accept the power that I can give to you?_

Eve was trembling now, but her voice was firm. "I do."

Lugia opened her eyes. _Then have it you shall. However, it isn't something that can be hidden; you must carry it with you as a constant reminder of what you have gained. It is your choice how you wish to take it. The Not-Humans that I have given it to in the past have taken it in the form of bracelets bound forever to the skin or have had it scarred into their skin so as to be less cumbersome. Would you like one of these, or would you prefer to carry it another way?_

Eve thought that a bracelet might be the best as soon as Lugia metioned it, yet she stood quiet and thought about it for a few moments; if it could never be taken off, then she wanted it to be something that wouldn't bother her.

Lugia noticed her hesitancy. She looked closer at Eve for a few moments, searching for a better idea; eventually, she asked, _What is it that's in your hair? That blue strand in the braid? If I'm not mistaken, it comes from a pokémon, does it not?_

"Yes. It's from a wartortle that I know," Eve said, understanding what Lugia was getting at. "Can you maybe put the symbol or whatever it is in my hair somehow? I think I would like it that way."

_Yes, that is possible, _Lugia said. _If you would be so kind, could you let your hair down? That will make it easier to make this work._

Her hands still shaking, Eve pulled the hair band out and let her long hair fall down past her shoulders.

Lugia closed her eyes again, and a single feather seemed to detach itself from the center of her head. It glowed brightly, almost as if it were a piece of fine silver. The glowing continued as it melted into water, then quickly snaked its way through the air towards Eve. Before she could react, Eve felt it tangle itself into her hair, very close to the scalp on the left side of her head.

_And so it is done. The Power of Unity is yours, and no matter how hard you or anyone else might try, it can never be taken away. Only with death shall it disappear._

Eve reached up, and she felt a feather hanging down, its smooth surface almost cool beneath Eve's fingertips. She tugged on the feather ever so slightly, but it didn't budge whatsoever; it was there to stay.

_I should return to the ocean soon, _Lugia continued while Eve was still fingering the feather. _Is there anything else that I can tell you to aid you on your journey?_

Eve brought her mind back to the matter at hand. "Yes, I think so. Can you tell me where the other Great Ones like you are, or at least who they are? I already know of Ho-oh, but I have no clue where to go after him."

_Unfortunately, I cannot tell you these things. I do not know who they are, or where they live, _Lugia said, hanging her neck even lower in true regret. _Since the beginnings of our existences, we have avoided each other. It is all too likely that meetings between beings as powerful as us could cause devastation. I know only of Ho-oh, due to the proximity of our roosts. There is another who aided him 150 years ago when this tower burned to the ground, but I know not where he is._

_However, I can tell you that each has been bound to a certain place in the world, and they can only be summoned to that certain place. So it has been since the beginning of time. However hidden they may be, you might be able to find these places. I cannot guarantee that all will be like the towers of Ho-oh and I, though; the others may be more reclusive, and perhaps they never allowed any sort of shrine or honor be built in their names. _

"I see…" Eve said. "Then next… Is there any possible way that you can help me with Ho-oh? I'm… I'm afraid that I won't make it out of my meeting with him alive, yet he's the only one I know of that I can go to next."

Lugia let out a great breath, halfway between a sigh and a moan. _Ho-oh… Alas, I understand the danger, yet I fear entering into conflict with any of the Great Ones. You must face him alone. He is not impossible to defeat, however, and I sense that you already have someone sympathetic to your cause in the form of Suicune. I have never spoken with her, but I know of her… She can aid you. I also suggest you bring any friendly pokémon who would be willing to aid you. While unneeded humans are banned from the summonings, you may bring as many pokémon as you want with you. _

Eve still worried that it would be impossible without Lugia's help, yet she knew that she couldn't convince the legend any other way. "I have one last question, and this I ask for Suicune's sake. Why didn't you come when you were summoned that day 150 years ago? Or did they even have a chance to summon you before the tower was struck with lightning and burned to the ground?"

Lugia suddenly jerked upright, as if physically hurt by the question. _I was coming… Truly, I was coming. I wasn't nearby, though, and Ho-oh and his friend were. I didn't arrive until the tower was already engulfed in flame. I was the one who brought the rain that ended the fire; I only wish I could have arrived earlier, to defend those who had come to me._

"Thank you for telling me. I think Suicune will be glad to hear that you were indeed coming."

_So do you have any more questions? _Eve shook her head. _How about you, Tim and Mark? You have been silent this whole time._

Mark bowed slightly. "It is honor enough to meet you face to face," he said. "But there is one thing I would ask, if you don't mind. The humans that worship you and the humans that worship Ho-oh wish to combine the two religions… Is this something that should happen? I have always found Ho-oh's religion rather base in its blind search for power."

_It is indeed something that should happen. It is one of the best things that can happen, for those who seek the truth, _Lugia said. _Life, death, purpose, unity, power… They are all interconnected. If one could look at them all with true understanding, then they would see how purity of the knowledge of one leads to true knowledge of the others. Even life and death rely heavily on each other, though they may at first seem in opposition. _

_Now, unless you have any more questions, I must go. It shall not be long until morning, and I should leave before I am seen. I think the storm has shrouded me from view until now. I thank you for having the courage to seek me out, and I give you my blessing on your journey. _

"Thank you. I think I'll need it," Eve said.

The gentle humming noise rose in her throat as a response. Then, without warning, she opened her wings and flapped them once, launching herself into the clouds. The storm responded, suddenly gusting and raining with even more fury than when Lugia had first arrived. Not prepared for the sudden change and already weak, Eve was flung backwards once again; this time, Mark caught her before she could fall to the ground.

When Eve looked up again, squinting against the wind and rain, she saw that the legendary birds had taken flight as well. She stood up again with Mark's help as the storm reverted back to the cold but calm rain of the last few days.

"Shall we go?" Mark asked.

Eve was about to respond, but something told her that she needed to stay for a moment longer. She fingered her feather, wondering if it was perhaps to blame for the sudden instinct.

"Let's wait just a moment longer," Eve said. "I think that maybe-"

Three shapes suddenly bounded into the basement, so fast that they were blurs until they came to a stop. Raikou, Entei, and Suicune had arrived.

Entei looked like he was going to launch into a speech or a question, but Eve ignored him and quickly walked towards Suicune, stopping barely a foot in front of her face. "Suicune… I just wanted to let you know that Lugia was coming to the summons of Yellow and your trainer. She just couldn't make it in time. She seemed very sad that she couldn't get there quickly enough to help you."

Suicune was stunned for a moment, and she looked down to the ground. Eve could practically feel happiness flowing from her. ~Thank you, Eve. It's good to know that we wouldn't have gone there in vain… Good to know that my trainer and I didn't die completely without need.~

~We have more important things to talk about than the past,~ Entei said, puffing out smoke from his mouth impatiently. ~Have you changed your mind yet? About who deserves to feel the force of the power you can gain.~

Eve looked over to Entei, and for a second she considered lying so as to get him to help her summon Ho-oh without killing her first. Yet she knew that her act would be practically transparent, so she instead replied, "No, I haven't changed my mind. I'm not destroying anyone, be they human or pokémon."

~Then this is what I believe that you should know,~ Entei said. ~It took me a long time to prove it, but I now know it to be true. You see, even in the time when pokémon and humans were most in balance – when pokéballs were available, but so hard to make that most people could have only one – even then there was injustice. The pokéball manipulates pokémon's thoughts. When changed into the pure form of energy, pokémon become more malleable in their thoughts and feelings. Since they are constantly carried around while in this form by humans, their thoughts are forced towards that of obligation to their trainer. That is why pokémon almost always follow their trainers' orders; because they cannot think to do anything else, even if they hate their trainer. You think that pokémon and humans can live in harmony, but the fact is that they cannot.~

"But most pokémon like their trainers," Eve argued. "Surely they-"

~But how many are willingly captured by trainers? How many are forced away from their wild family and friends and pushed against their will into a harsh training regimen? Does it make sense that so many would come to appreciate becoming stronger at the cost of everything they've known and loved?~

Eve bit her lip. The truth was, there were very few wild pokémon that she had met who would ever truly accept being a trainer's pokémon. And it was also truth that all of the captured pokémon she had met never disagreed with their trainer's commands, despite the fact that they had probably once detested trainers just as much as all other wild pokémon. Unconsciously seeking an example, her thoughts flashed briefly to the first time she had met Katsu. In that battle, Katsu had laughed at his own pokémon becoming poisoned. Totodile and Snivy wanted to get stronger, of course; but if what Entei was saying was true, then how much of that desire came from Katsu himself? Even though they seemed content, could that sort of happiness be true if it was due only to manipulation?

Entei stood a little straighter, a smug look in his eyes as he realized that Eve was coming to believe what he had said. ~This is what happened to me. When I was a flareon, my trainer beat me and put me into impossible battles to force me to become stronger. Though I'd never cared about strength before, I came to reason that I should endure his training because it really would help me become stronger. I would have defended my trainer to the death at that time, yet now that I am no longer carried in his pokéball, I hate him with all my being. Do you hope to have a world like that? Where happiness comes from one race unwittingly serving another?~

Scowling, Eve forced her indecision away. "No. I don't intend to have a world like that. I hope to create a world with true balance. No matter what you say, no race deserves to be wiped out."

Raikou advanced a few steps, sparks flying from him. ~But such a world is not possible. Humans will always seek to gain dominance; it is in their nature. If you continue to deny it,~ he moved several steps closer, ~then we cannot allow you to live. There is too much of a risk that you might one day be successful in attempting to create the world you envision.~

Suicune moved herself in between Eve and Raikou, her movements both graceful and tense. At the same time, Eve suddenly felt Mark's hand on her shoulder, and then found herself teleported even farther away from the legendary trio.

"If we need a quick escape, Tim will help us away," Mark whispered.

Eve didn't hear him. She was listening to the legendary beasts. ~I will not allow you to hurt Eve,~ Suicune was saying. ~There is a better way. Give Eve time to think on what has been said here, and give her time to seek out the human that she needs to summon Ho-oh. Perhaps she will change her mind. If not… Then this fight will happen then.~

~I don't like it,~ Entei growled, advancing as well. ~However, I am hopeful that the Not-Human might see the error of her ways. Raikou?~

Raikou growled as well, but he backed away slightly. ~I, too, have hope that she might realize the truth. Very well, Suicune; we shall bite back our rage until a later time.~

Suicune bowed her head. ~Thank you, brothers.~ Then, turning to Eve, she said, ~Whenever you are ready, all you need to do is whisper my name to the wind. I shall come wherever you are, and I shall bring my brothers. But do not wait too long; Raikou and Entei are impatient. Until then… Farewell, and thank you again.~

She leaped out of the basement, probably hoping that it would be best to end the conversation quickly. Entei and Raikou looked at Eve one last time, and Entei growled, ~Remember to think on what I have said. We do not wish to kill you, but we will do what we must. Farewell.~ And with that, he and Raikou leaped away as well.

Eve looked at where they had been standing for a few more seconds. "Is everything all right?" Mark asked after a while, deciding to break the silence.

In response, Eve collapsed to her knees and looked down at the ground. "Then there's no way around it," she whispered to herself. "They're going to kill me." Then she slipped into unconsciousness and fell forward into the mud, the stress too much for her already weakened body to bear.

* * *

I love Lugia. ^_^

Anyway, the first of the five powers has been obtained... And what do you know, it only took 25 chapters to get to this point. 25 quite lengthy chapters, at that...

Just want to let you all know that I might skip a week sometime soon... Hopefully not (but possibly) next week, but we'll just see... The thing is, I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up. So for at least my first time lagging behind, I'll just skip the week rather than get off of the Thursday schedule. Just an FYI to all of you.

So thanks for reading! And... I'm going to ask this again, even though I haven't for several chapters... PLEASE REVIEW! Really, it's much appreciated. I know that there are AT LEAST twenty people who have invested time reading this story and who haven't reviewed... To be honest, I'd just really like to hear from you. So, uh, yeah. Review. Please?


	26. Recovery and Remorse

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Recovery and Remorse**

Eve slowly came back to consciousness. She didn't want to at first; the covers around her felt so soft, after all, and actual rest was something that was becoming increasingly difficult for her to obtain.

But soon, the discomforts of her situation woke her mind enough for her to realize that she needed to get up. Sun was streaming in from somewhere, brightening the otherwise dark blankets of her eyelids. She could hear someone moving around beside her, which was certainly not something she was used to when sleeping. And aside from both of these things, she could feel something strange and tube-like around her face, with little extensions protruding a little ways into her nose.

With the aid of these little things prodding her to wakefulness, she suddenly jerked into a sitting position as everything – the legendary birds, Lugia, the words of Entei – flooded her mind. No longer could she rest in the blissful cradle of sleep, that odd mix of both vivid dreams and dark nothingness.

"Oh, so you're up now, are you?" a voice said. Eve turned, rubbed her bleary eyes, and saw that a nurse was in the room, writing something down onto a clipboard while she looked at the readouts on a nearby machine. She saw much else as well – she had a room to herself, for one, and the sky outside of her window was no longer filled with the storm clouds of the past few days.

The nurse continued, "You've been out for a while. That one political fellow you've been campaigning with – Mark, was it? – well, he brought you in at about two or three this morning, and it's nearly one in the afternoon now. By the way, he's paying the extra expense for what your trainer insurance doesn't cover, so that's why you've got a room to yourself. Awfully nice guy, by the way. He's been teleporting here every hour or so to see if you'd woken up. Can't say I blame you for being so knocked out, though; with lungs like those, it's no wonder that you didn't wake up when the doctor was figuring out what was wrong."

Eve paled ever so slightly. "Are they really that bad?" Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Is that what these tubes are for? Whatever's coming through it, it smells really good." Which was true; an almost floral scent was wafting into Eve's nostrils, making her feel both invigorated and calm at once.

"Yeah, that's what the tubes are for. You've got yourself an aromatherapy compound from a roselia's petals – it's one of the most powerful healing agents we have for lung issues. And yes, it's bad enough that you really need it. Almost a third of the cells in your lungs were dead by the time Mark brought you in. Given another couple weeks without treatment, you literally could have died. Even now, there will still be long-lasting repercussions; but you'll have to ask the doctor about that. In fact… I should probably go get her now."

Shocked by this news, Eve said nothing more as the nurse left the room. Of course, she'd felt terrible the last few weeks, but she hadn't guessed that her lungs were practically dying. She'd thought that maybe she would be able to overcome the gas from Blight somehow. Gradually becoming immune to it over time hadn't seemed like that unlikely of a possibility. But if what the nurse had said was true…

Her thoughts were interrupted as a woman opened the door and came into the room. She had brown hair, brown eyes, a kind face, and she was decked out in all the classic attire of a doctor, stethoscope and all. "Hello, Eve," she said, smiling. "My name's Doctor Marshall, and I've been treating you since Dr. Nelson went home. He's the late night ER doctor. Anyway, I've got a couple of questions for you, if you don't mind. Namely, I wanted to confirm something. The friend that brought you in said that you own a gastly, and that you frequently take it out of its pokéball. Is this correct?"

Eve hesitated for a moment, then nodded. There was no way she could hide the cause of her cough any longer.

"And how long have you had it?"

"A little over a month, I think…" Eve said after a moment of thought. "But I know she wouldn't mean to-"

Doctor Marshall interrupted before Eve could finish. "I'm sure she didn't. However, the fact is that there are many poison types that have trouble controlling the gas and powders that escape them. Koffing, gloom, venonat… And, unfortunately, gastly. In fact, gastly are some of the worst, since their bodies are completely composed of freely-moving gases. Now, the gas that a gastly is naturally made up of isn't the same composition as, say, a poison gas attack. With a poison attack like that, one exposure can continue to significantly weaken a pokémon or human, but only for as long as a its body doesn't fight it off. In that sort of case, it's not hard for a body to learn to fight it back, and so the effects might last a day or so at most.

"However, continuous exposure to a gastly's natural gases is a different matter. Short encounters hardly do anything to a person, even if they breathe in the gases very directly. But over time, these exposures become like little mini poison-gas attacks that target the lungs specifically, as opposed to the overall health of the individual. In your case, it has gone on long enough that a significant number of lung cells have died off, and those left alive cannot replicate fast enough to replace them."

This news made Eve feel a mix of guilt, sadness, and dread. Guilt for letting things go this far; sadness for what this would mean for Blight; and dread because she was afraid of how bad her lungs really were. It was the lattermost of these feelings that fueled her next question. "So how long will I have to stay here? I mean… Are my lungs going to be okay?"

A sad, sympathetic smile lit upon the doctor's face. "Yes and no to that last question. And to the first, I'm only going to ask that you stay the night here and keep those tubes in all the while. It will put you on a good start to recovery. But as to how far that recovery will go, I must be honest. While most of your cells will grow back, your lungs will probably only ever be at eighty percent of their previous function. Ninety at best. You'll always lose your breath easily, and even a short run to catch up with someone could leave you lightheaded for a few seconds. It won't ever kill you or anything, of course… But I'm certain it will be frustrating, at least for a while. You'll need to take it easy, and you will definitely need to get rid of your gastly somehow. Maybe give it to another trainer who knows how to handle poison-types, or else just release it into the wild. Do you understand?" This last question she asked with complete seriousness and authority; she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"But-"

"But nothing."

Eve stared at the doctor with a look that was as close to a glare as Eve had ever come. "I'll take precautions. I'll figure something out. But I'm not forcing Blight away from me."

Doctor Marshall gave an almost-glare back. "Then you're probably signing your own death certificate. Precautions are enough to keep healthy lungs from an initial poisoning, but they're not enough to protect lungs as weakened as yours. I'm sure you're close with your gastly, but-"

A knock sounded at the door, and the nurse from before opened it and leaned in. "Mark just showed up again. Should I show him in?"

The doctor headed towards the door. "Yes, go ahead. I'm done speaking with Eve." The nurse left; and before Doctor Marshall followed her, she looked back to Eve with an almost regretful look in her eyes. "Please, just think about it. I've seen you on the news. I don't agree with your political campaigns, but you seem like a nice girl nonetheless. I'd hate to see you throw your life away over something like this. Especially considering that even in legends, very few people get the honor of carrying around a Silver Wing." Then she left the room.

Eve reached up and felt that the feather was still in her hair. Despite the fact that she'd been changed out of her clothes and into a hospital gown while she'd been unconscious (which was rather awkward now that she thought about it, though her clothes must have been a mess), they hadn't taken the feather out of her hair. She figured that it must have really been stuck in there, as Lugia had said.

As she was still fingering the feather, Mark came in. He went straight to a chair that was sitting next to Eve's bed and sat down there. "It's good to know you're alright. When I left you hear last night… The doctor assured me you'd be okay, but you seemed almost dead to me." He looked off towards the window with his sightless eyes as he said this, but Eve knew that his every sense – both psychic and otherwise – was trained on her.

"Yeah, I'm fine… Or, at least, I'm not going to be dying due to that anytime soon," Eve said, almost embarrassed by what he was saying. "Thank you for taking me back here, by the way."

Mark nodded and looked off at the window for a few more seconds. Then, he said, "You knew, didn't you? That Blight was causing it? Up until the doctor asked me if you owned any poison pokémon, I'd always thought it was really just a bad cold that might go away after a while… But you knew."

Though his voice was flat, Eve could tell that he was hurt by this fact. Why he would be so hurt by it, Eve couldn't tell; but she nonetheless felt guilty as she answered, "Yeah. I knew. Blight has no idea, though. Not even Basil figured it out. And I didn't want to tell anyone because-"

"-you didn't want to give up Blight," Mark finished. "And you're still not going to give her up, are you?"

For some reason, this question hurt so much more than what the doctor had said just before leaving the room. "No, I'm not," she answered quietly. "I've only known her for a month, but she's one of the most lighthearted pokémon I've ever met. All she wants to do is cheer people and pokémon up. Even despite this lung thing, I'm so glad to have met her. And I know she'd be devastated if I told her she had to leave me. I'd much rather tell her that yes, her gases have messed up my lungs, but I'll just do something about it in the future. I'm sure there are ways around it."

Mark went silent again, this time for over a minute. Then, he said, "You do know that what I said in Goldenrod still holds true? Even if you don't love me back… I love you, and I want to protect you. I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore. Yet even knowing that, I also know that you wouldn't be the person you are if you didn't want to keep Blight even after all of the lung trouble. I just… I just don't know what to say. I mean, if someone told me that psychic powers amplified by Tim give me brain cancer, I still would never get rid of him."

"Mark…" Eve began, feeling like she understood why he had seemed so pained since the beginning of this conversation. She figured that he must be much, _much _more worried about her health than she'd realized. "It's not that I don't love you. I never said that. I'm not even sure if I know what love is, to be honest. I think more like pokémon than humans, and they don't really have love like humans do. It's more like… Oh, I don't know. I don't really understand human love, perhaps, and I also can't explain the pokémon equivalent in human words. But the thing is, I know you don't want me to be hurt, and I think I know that you would do almost anything to protect me…. And I think I do love you, in a sense, because of that and because of who you are. I just don't think I could cope with being in a relationship in addition to everything else… I feel like I have to dedicate myself to this quest for the powers now that I've started."

"So if that's true and you do love me, even in a pokémon sense, then why won't you tell me everything?" Mark asked.

Eve scowled. "Everything? About what?"

"About what's going on with you and the legends. Do you not trust me to keep your secrets?"

"But I have told you everything, I think. And I do trust you – I probably trust you more than any other human I know, other than maybe my own mom. What haven't I told you?"

Mark continued to keep his face and tone blank, though Eve could tell that he was struggling with this. "The not human thing that Lugia was talking about. I mean, I understand if you want to keep some secrets to yourself, and you don't have to tell me about it. But, well, I just thought you trusted me enough to tell me about whatever, no matter how bad or weird it is."

Eve looked down at the white sheets in front of her as she clenched them in her fist. "I'm sorry," she said, wishing that she could tell exactly how he was feeling about that particular bit of information; yet his face was as blank as ever. "It's not that I didn't trust you. It's just that… Well, at first, I didn't understand it or believe it. And even though I've sort of come to terms with it though I still don't get it, I was… I was afraid of what you would think of me. Entei and Raikou and Suicune, as well as every pokémon I've ever met, have more or less told me the same thing. I'm not really human… I'm more like a pokémon soul in a human body."

"You could have a rock's soul for all I care," Mark said. "You're still you. And I still love you."

"The funny thing is, Pebble said more or less the same thing. That is, the 'you're still you' part, not the other thing," Eve said. She was feeling uncomfortable about all this talk of love, mainly because it made her feel guilty. Mark was apparently in love with her, yet she couldn't say the same thing. She really, really liked him, more than she'd ever liked anyone else, including Basil in a sense. And she liked him in a different way than she'd liked anyone else. Yet somehow, she felt like she'd know human love when she felt it… And the fact was, she didn't feel it. She didn't think she could feel it, if she couldn't feel it for Mark.

As if to prove her point, Tim spoke up for the first time since he and Mark had entered the room. _You know, I've seen into Mark's mind, to an extent. I've glimpsed what love he's talking about. It's not something I can even begin to grasp. The pokémon equivalent is, well, just another form of instinct. Two pokémon automatically know they belong together, and the bond they form is almost instantaneously. It's as if they'd been together forever. They become almost inseparable, and the feelings they have for each other are unique from any other feeling, including human love. Human love is something I shall never understand._

Eve wanted to reply that she wouldn't, either. Instead, she carefully pulled the tubes off from around her face, swung her feet to the side, and stepped out of bed towards Mark. Mark, of course, noticed what she was doing. He stood up out of his chair and moved towards her, as if to stop her; but before he knew what was happening, Eve had come straight up to him and had wrapped her arms around him in as tight of a hug as she could manage. Mark was nearly a head taller than the almost frail teenager, so Eve could feel Tim's feet on either side of her head where they were hanging down from his shoulders. She didn't care. She simply squeezed her eyes shut and hugged all the tighter, his heartbeat loud in her ear.

"I'm sorry, but I think that this is the closest thing to human love I can get," Eve said as she stood there hugging him. "Pokémon and humans alike want to be close to the ones they care about. And there are other similarities, too. I think it's probably less prominent in pokémon than in humans, but… In girls, it seems like there's always that feeling that they want to be protected. Sure, we can stand up for ourselves when we need to or want to, and we're all the more ferocious for it. But somewhere deep down, we want to feel like the one we're close to will always be there, holding us tight whenever life gets rough. I know it's how I feel, at least. So… I'm sorry. It's not love, but it's the closest thing I have."

For a few moments after Eve embraced him, Mark was stunned. He held his arms a little bit away from Eve, as if afraid that touching her anymore would make a voltorb explode or something like that. But as she finished her little speech, her lowered his arms and brought them around her, returning the gesture. "I understand, Eve," he said. "And that's fine. Love or friendship or somewhere in between, it's fine. I'm sorry I was sort of pressuring things just a moment ago."

They stood there for a few more moments. Then, at some unspoken cue, they broke apart. Even Mark seemed to realize that this was all there was, and at least for the moment, nothing more could come of their relationship then this something that was more than friendship but different than actual love.

Eve wordlessly went back over to her bed and did her best to rearrange the tubes on her face, ignorant of how stupid they probably looked.

Mark headed towards the door, and it was he that broke the somewhat tense silence. "I should probably leave now," he said. "You need your rest, and I still haven't told Katsu all of what's happening. He's been calling me the last couple hours or so, wondering if you were coming to get your pokémon back."

"Oh, that's right; he still has them," Eve said. "I suppose that's good. Would you ask him if he wouldn't mind keeping them another day? The doctor will let me leave tomorrow morning. And say hello to my pokémon, too, and let them know what's happening. But please don't tell them that Blight's to blame – I'll break it to her somehow when I see her in person."

Mark nodded, and then exited the room through the door; though he could have teleported away, he probably wanted the nurses to know that he was gone so that they could get back to their work.

Eve was left alone. And due to either something in the gas being pumped to her nose, the warm touch of the sunlight, or her general weakened state, she soon found herself dozing off. In what felt like no time at all, she had once again entered the peaceful state of oblivion.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Mark escorted Eve to a nearby park the next morning, insisting that she really shouldn't be a lone for too long while she was still recovering. He was wearing his usual trainer attire: jeans, t-shirt, a light jacket, and sneakers just about summed up his entire outfit. He'd explained once before that this was sort of a tradition of the trainer representative of the Johto legislature, since it helped the constituency to know that he wasn't becoming some rich bureaucrat with no connection to the relatively difficult lives of most trainers.

Eve, for her part, was wearing an outfit that Mark had bought her after he had left the hospital the previous day; her other clothes had been completely ruined by the mud and filth of the encounter with Lugia. She really didn't seem so different from how she'd ever been. She wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a baggy knit top with loosely-hanging long sleeves. It looked quite nice on her, though Eve would have been the last to realize this, seeing as she had no eye for fashion whatsoever.

The only thing that was significantly different about Eve was her hair. Except for a few of the calmer moments of her journey, she'd always left her hair in a ponytail. Now, however, the bright red locks fell down her neck onto her back. The blue strand was still there, but simply clipped into the hair that fell around her face, rather than braided in with other strands of hair. And, of course, the silver feather now glittered next to her scalp, a constant reminder of what she felt ever more drawn to do.

The reason why they were going to the park in the first place was that Katsu had agreed to meet them there so that Eve could get back her pokémon. The park had seemed the best place to do this; that way, Eve and her pokémon could greet each other immediately.

Soon after they entered the park – but before they'd caught sight of Katsu – Eve saw her pokémon charging up to her from further inside the park. She smiled, both glad to see them and amused at their enthusiasm. But when they got closer and she could hear what they were saying, she realized that their energy was born not of happiness, but of anxiety.

They all arrived more or less at once, and they immediately surrounded Eve, rubbing against her affectionately even as they shouted out what apparently had them so concerned; only Pebble, who despite his size had ridden over with Basil on Aiden's back, was pensive.

Eve reached out her hands to the three panicked pokémon, doing her best to calm them. "You guys! I can't understand you if you're all talking at once! What's wrong? Basil, why don't you tell me."

The little pikachu jumped up Eve's back and onto her shoulder. ~It's Blight, Eve. She's gone,~ he said, his voice truly sorrowful. Eve looked around and realized that Blight was, in fact, not with the group, though she was too stunned to even guess what had happened; so instead, she listened in shocked silence as Basil continued. ~Mark came by yesterday while we were at the park – Katsu let us out of our pokéballs while they talked, though I think it only must have been after they had talked alone for a while. I think he'd been training with his own pokémon up to Mark's arrival… But anyway, Mark only said that you were sick, and that it would be another day before we could see you. We were sad, of course, but glad that they were fixing your cough.~

Hannah picked up the story from here, fretfully waving her purple leaf back and forth. ~But then, after Mark left, Katsu told us that Blight was the reason that you were so sick. And we all told Blight not to believe him, and that she needed to talk to you first, and that it didn't make sense that you would be sick from Blight if we weren't sick as well. But she didn't listen – she said that of course we wouldn't be sick, because she was with you much more than she was with any single one of us, and that we were stronger than you anyway. She didn't want to hurt you anymore, so she just left. Katsu gave her the opportunity to break her pokéball, so that she wouldn't be bound to it any more, and that's what she did. Eve… I miss her. She was funny, and nice, and she meant well.~

Eve looked from Pebble to Aiden to Basil to Hannah, her uncomprehending brain taking what seemed like an eternity to process this terrible news. Then, finally, it hit her like a blow; only the fact that Aiden was standing right behind her kept her from falling. "Blight's… gone? But… but I didn't care if she has hurt me before. I was going to find a way to fix it. She really just left?"

~Yes,~ Basil said. His sorrow was two-fold; like both Hannah and Aiden, he had liked Blight and he missed her now that she was gone. But he also felt doubly sad because of Eve's shock. ~She's really gone. We did our best, but-~ he stopped what he was saying and turned his head, as did the rest of the pokémon. Eve turned to look, and she saw Katsu coming towards them. His face was blank, yet he seemed tense; he surely knew that Eve's pokémon had already told her what he had done.

Eve got up and walked silently past her pokémon and towards Katsu. Even under the circumstances, anger was impossible for her; the Lake of Rage was perhaps the only place that could bring it out. Nonetheless, sorrow for Blight's disappearance and hurt that Katsu would do something like this filled her entire being.

"Katsu." she said as they finally came face-to-face. "Why? Why did you tell Blight that she needed to leave?"

Katsu shook his head. "I didn't tell her that she had to leave. I told her the truth, and asked her if she wanted to. Mark told me that you weren't planning on making her leave, so… I thought this was the only way."

Eve wanted to cry, yet her eyes were dry; it was yet another thing that she had as of yet been unable to do since the Lake of Rage incident. "But why did you think that this was the only way? Why did you think she needed to leave? I would've figured some way to negate the poison, I'm certain of it."

"But you can't risk your life on something that uncertain," Katsu said. "Maybe this is just my religion talking, and my upbringing, but… Life just isn't something you can gamble with like that, even for something as important as the friendship between you and your pokémon."

"But she didn't mean to-"

"Are fatal car crashes any better when no one means for them to happen?" Katsu said. "No matter the intention, someone dies, and other people are sad, and the world is a little bit darker of a place because of it. Eve, you've been helping me to realize that this fact applies to pokémon as well as people. Now let me help you realize that it applies to you as well, even when you're willing to take the risk."

Eve averted her eyes to the side, away from Katsu's gaze. Somewhere inside her, she knew he was right, even if she didn't like the way he had handled things. She probably shouldn't have been so committed on keeping Blight. After all, what would that one friendship be if it had ended in an unnecessary death?

Katsu saw the weight of this fact add itself to Eve's mind, and he softened somewhat. "Listen, Eve. It's not like she's dead or anything. I wouldn't be surprised if you met up with her again sometime, perhaps after she's over the shock of knowing that she hurt you. I mean, you can talk to pokémon – when she wants to find you again, I'm sure all she'll need to do is ask other pokémon if they've run into you."

Eve felt a tugging at her jean leg, and she looked down to see Basil. ~You know, he's kind of right,~ he said. ~I'm still angry that he did this in the first place, but Blight did say that she would come back when she could get better control of her poisons.~

"Well… There's nothing that can be done about it now. I just wish you would've let me handle it," Eve said to Katsu; and though her words made her sound like she accepted it, the truth of the matter was that her sadness was still as great as ever. With an extraordinary effort, she forced her mind to another topic. "Where's the aerodactyl egg?"

"He's been keeping it at his room in the pokémon center," Mark spoke up, as if to save Katsu from having to talk to Eve anymore. The fact was, Katsu seemed just as hurt by the whole situation. "But you probably shouldn't carry it around until your lungs are a little better. The doctors seemed to think that they'd be close to their strongest after another week, thanks to the aromatherapy treatment. Why don't we move it over to your room at the pokémon center later?"

Eve nodded, but her thoughts were far away. Life would move on, eventually. But for now, she seemed frozen in thoughts of Blight.

* * *

So, I'm not entirely sure how that first part went... I wasn't planning on it, and like I said, relationships aren't really my forte when it comes to writing... But it just sorta happened, so I went with it.

... and sigh... Poor Blight... You know, I didn't realize until now that it's too late that she didn't really get much face time. I actually really liked her, though, or at least the concept. How Eve always describes is exactly correct; she's just a fun-loving pokémon who couldn't even imagine hurting someone on purpose (except perhaps in a good-natured battle). So sorry about that poor character development there... Hopefully there will be a little most development on the next character who bites the dust and/or disappears for indefinite periods of time.

And thanks to the several of you who reviewed my last chapter! I'd thank you now, but I don't really have time, so I'll thank you all properly in the next chapter! ^_^ But as always, I appreciate it muchly!

Anyway, next chapter is... (drumroll)... more politics, surprisingly enough! So, uh, yeah, thanks so much for reading!


	27. Escalating Politics

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Escalating Politics**

"Jenna, would you please remind me why we're here again? This really doesn't seem like a good idea…" Eve said, looking at the backs of a couple hundred people, all clapping and cheering as someone crossed the stage in the front of the room. Eve was familiar with the arena she and Jenna had just entered, but only from the viewpoint of the stage; she and Mark had held a couple of their mid-sized rallies in this particular Ecruteak building. As the people standing around her continually jostled her – some looking at her with enmity when they realized who she was, some with curiosity – she protectively hugged her aerodactyl egg as close to herself as she could.

Jenna put her arm around Eve's shoulder's casually, perhaps hoping it would bother Eve; the closeness didn't necessarily make her feel uncomfortable, but she was admittedly still having trouble getting used to Jenna and her unique personality. "Aw, lighten up a little, Eve," she said quietly, so as not to disturb the other people crowded at the back of the room, all of whom had arrived too late to get a seat. "Mark even agreed that it probably couldn't hurt. You've been more or less out of politics for over two weeks now; you might as well dive back in head-first."

"I don't see why I _should_ dive in head first, really," Eve answered, a scowl on her face. She was back to sort of normal health after spending the week following her discharge from the hospital trying not to exert herself too much. Of course, this 'normal' really just meant that she was back to how she'd been for most of the time she'd been with Blight, aside from the coughing. What the doctor had said about her recovery (or lack thereof) had turned out to be true. As of yet, even the shortest of jogs could cause her breathing to become heavy; and though she'd become used to that in the weeks following her initial meeting with Blight, it wasn't what she wanted the rest of her life to be like.

Her mental health could quite easily be brought into question as well. She still missed Blight, though not in the heart-wrenching way she had experienced when first hearing that the ghost had left. It wouldn't have been so bad if not for the added stress of everything else that was building up around her. One of these strains was the constant nagging at the back of her mind that told her that she needed to summon Ho-oh, oftentimes keeping her from sleeping or interrupting her when she had other things to think about.

But even more worrying than this was the direction that the political scene was taking. Ever since the Lake of Rage thing, Rocket Corporation – with Brian as figurehead – had been ramping up its attacks against both her personally and the virtues of her and Mark's campaign. She'd kept an eye on it while in Mahogany, but she'd had other things on her mind at that time and had more or less pushed it to the back of her mind. Now that she was back in Ecruteak and in constant contact with Mark, she could no longer ignore the rising tensions on both sides of the issue.

"All we're doing is listening to Brian's rally. Then we'll leave," Jenna said, ignoring the words coming over the speaker system; the guy talking was apparently some former legislative representative who was introducing Brian. "It can't be that bad, right? You've gotta know what the competition is like, after all."

Eve slipped out from beneath Jenna's arm. "But I've already received threats from a lot of the same people who are probably attending this rally."

"But that's few people compared to everyone here. Most of these people are just curious about what Brian's like, or else they're more moderate supporters of his cause. Not to mention, I'm here. I'd like to see any and all of these losers get to you while I'm around, so long as I still need you to get me to Ho-oh."

Eve sighed. "You know, if you wanted to be nice, you could at least leave off the Ho-oh part."

"I know," Jenna said cheerily. "Anyway, we should probably shut up for a bit – looks like Brian's coming on stage."

Eve barely heard the last bit of Jenna's sentence over the sudden roar of applause that thundered through the room. Eve stood on her toes, doing her best to see over the heads of the other spectators standing in the back of the room; as she did, she managed to catch a glimpse of Brian as he arrived at his podium. Then his voice blared out through the speakers, and Eve settled back down on her heels to listen as he began his speech.

"For hundreds of years, we have lived in harmony with pokémon. This is what every history book of almost every country of the world says, or at least assumes," he said, wasting no time with the 'thank you for coming' intro that almost all politicians began their speeches with. His voice was strong and confident; it made Eve think that the speaker had to be someone more like a tyranitar than the plain but likeable man that she knew Brian to be. "But what kind of harmony is it, really? Without a pokémon of our own to defend us, we fear to go far from civilization. We are trapped within our towns by this fear, and unfortunately, it is a fear that is well founded.

"As many of you may know, my life is a good example of why we _must _fear pokémon. My parents were pokémon ecologists, well known for their skill of studying pokémon in the wild. They were good at what they did; they knew how pokémon behaved, and they knew how to stay safe around them. Yet despite all their skill and knowledge, something managed to catch them by surprise while they were studying ursaring. I say 'something' because no one was quite sure what it might have been – the bodies were too badly mauled for any determination to be made.

"I was seven at the time. An orphan. I had only one pokémon each from my mother and father to remember them by."

He spoke with certainty, but also with such emotion that some people in the crowd were actually shedding tears. Eve felt saddened by the story as well, but she also experienced another sensation that she hadn't been expecting: remembrance. She'd heard this story before, somehow, though she guessed she would've been only four or five years old when it happened.

_Maybe my parents knew someone else who was killed by ursaring? They certainly aren't the most mild-mannered of pokémon, so it's not impossible. And if his parents were researchers, then maybe dad met his parents at some point in time…_

She didn't have long to dwell on the fact, seeing as Brian was quickly moving on to the point of the story.

"This is why we have for far too long allowed pokémon to have their way with the world!" Brian said, his voice brimming over with the fervor he had for this argument. "Of course, I know there are those of you in the audience who disagree with this, and who would say that they love their pokémon too much to truly 'oppress' any of their kind. But the thing is, there is a difference between trained and wild pokémon. I love my own pokémon, too. I understand where you're coming from. If anyone ever hurt my pokémon, I'd certainly be enrage over it.

"But we're not talking about domestic pokémon. Captured pokémon are almost an entirely separate species. They can learn to follow the rational judgments of their trainers, and under a human's control their power is nothing to fear. But wild pokémon cannot control themselves, and they are what we need to manage.

"What Rocket Corporation proposes our government do is embark on a full scale management project of wild pokémon. Many would be caught for redistribution to trainers, such as those trainers who have enrolled in active service in our police forces and military. Other species – those that have major excesses in population – would have large groups exterminated for the greater safety of humans and the general betterment of their respective ecosystems, many of which are in danger of being overgrazed by herds of stantler and other such species. The most dangerous wild populations would be kept on reserves or else exterminated entirely.

"That is, unless you would prefer to let them dominate how we progress as a people. Unless you would prefer to leave future generations with a problem that scientists say is growing every decade. Unless you think that it is just for a race with reason and intellect to be so governed by the whims of uncontrolled power. Is that what you all want?"

A roar of protest echoed through the arena. Even though Eve disagreed with much of what he had said, she could somewhat understand why the crowd would be so swayed by it. Brian had a sort of personality and eloquence that made anyone and everyone want to agree with him, even when their own personal logic warned them against it. He had a sort of charisma that even Mark, for all his political smarts and big words, couldn't match.

"Hey, Eve," Jenna murmered in her ear, loudly enough that she could hear over the lengthy applause of the crowd. "Didn't you say that you've talked to that guy before?"

Eve nodded. "I thought he was a pretty nice guy then… And he seemed so sincere. He said he didn't even want to be doing this campaign, but he's got to anyway."

"And what do you think of him now? Which is the real him?"

"I'm not sure, really," Eve said. "He seemed just as honest then as he seems worked up now. I can't believe that the Brian I talked to was lying. But I also can't believe that the fervent words now don't have truth in them."

"What does your gut tell you?" Jenna said. "Just forget how he _sounds_. Instinct is the only way to get anything figured out."

Eve shook her head. "I haven't a clue. My instinct isn't telling me anything."

Jenna grinned broadly. "You know, the funny thing is, my instinct's coming up with nothin', too. I mean, I haven't even talked to him when he was acting any other way, like you have. But my instinct isn't telling me that he's as fervent about the cause as he acts now. And it's not telling me whether he's _not_ fervent about it. He's just there. Makes me feel blind, almost."

Eve looked at Jenna for a moment longer, then turned towards the front again even though Brian was just as hidden from view as before. He had continued on with his speech; as Eve brought her attention back to his words, he was saying, "…and Rocket Corporation believes that we cannot continue with a government so corrupt and ineffectual as the current government of Johto! On the surface, it is a republic, and so you have all been raised to know. But it is truly a dictatorship of the Elite Four and Champion Lance! No laws pass that don't get their stamp of approval; in the rare cases that they don't like something, they simply give the orders for it not to be enforced. And the legislature does nothing! They _cannot_ do anything! The power of the Executive Branch – from the Champion to the Leaders down to all the lowliest police trainers – is out of control. As citizens of this great nation, it is our duty to stand up to the tyranny that prevents our wishes from being heard!"

The crowd went practically wild; and, truly, this argument had a much better basis than his theory for controlling wild pokémon populations. Bribes were practically handed out on the floors of both the national and city legislatures; pressing laws were hardly passed without at least a month deliberation on the part of the national legislature, and at least as much time was spent in city governments when they chose whether or not to ratify; and it was well known that any law found disagreeable by Champion Lance or a majority of the Elite Four was often entirely unenforced. Though many people like Mark believed the Executive Branch to be sound in its judgments – even when those judgments were illegal – many more thought that more caps needed to be put on their power so as to better preserve the representative system of government even in its current corrupt form.

The noise of the crowd died down suddenly, just when the crescendo was reaching its peak; everyone began muttering to one another, whispering about… something. Eve stood on her toes again and craned her neck, trying to see what was going on.

"Some other guy just came from back stage…" Jenna said, noticing Eve's problem. "You know, he looks kinda familiar. Wasn't he standing back her just a few moments ago? Yeah, he was, I know it. There was a blond haired old dude standing back near the entrance when we came in." She turned around, checking if he was anywhere nearby anymore. "Seeing as he's not there now, I'm a hundred percent sure. I bet this'll be interesting."

Eve caught a brief glimpse of the stage through the shifting crowd; sure enough, a middle-aged man was whispering something into Brian's ear. As Eve watched, the man suddenly backed away and went off the stage, and Brian turned back to the microphone with a new gleam in his eye.

"Everyone, it turns out that we have a very special surprise guest joining us today, and I wouldn't want to be rude by making her continue to stand all the way in the back. Miss Addams, would you like to join me up on stage, perchance?"

The crowd's response was mixed. Most people simply turned in their seats, and those immediately in front of Eve began to part so that she would have a clear path to the middle aisle that went through the rows of seats. Some people booed, and Eve caught several obscenities shouted at her from various parts of the audience.

But the loudest and most noticeable response came from Jenna, who immediately broke out into a highly amused laugh. "Well, isn't this guy interesting!" she shouted, loudly enough for the back third of the room to hear her. "I've never known a politician who would improvise! Most can't even handle it if a word on their teleprompter has a couple of letters switched around. Well, go on, Eve, I'm right behind ya' – won't help your cause much if you chicken out now, after all."

Even when she'd first began her campaigns with Mark, Eve had never really been anxious about speaking in front of a crowd. She now attributed this to the fact that she was more pokémon than human in thought; while anxiety was certainly not unheard of in pokémon, it was reserved only for things that truly risked life and limb.

But as Eve took Jenna's advice and walked through the crowd towards the stage, the situation was different than before. Waves of hatred were coming from many of the people around her. Some particularly outraged souls shouted out the vilest curses they knew at her as she went up the aisle, and one or two of the people sitting on the very edge of the walkway spat at her feet as she walked by.

The fact that is was a crowd wasn't the issue. But walking into a beedrill nest had never been at the top of Eve's list of things to do; and, unfortunately, that was exactly what she was trying to do now. Her hands trembled slightly as she thought this, but she quickly forced her fear away. Just like she'd forced away all the other emotions of hesitation that had tried to poke up through the rubble that her mind had become since her anger at the Lake of Rage. She placed a hand protectively on the egg in its sling, as if to prove to herself that she was more worried for it than for her own safety.

Acting gentlemanly, Brian walked over to the side of the stage where the steps were and extended his had to help Eve up; he was smiling, but apologetically, as if he would really rather not have called her up to the stage. Eve accepted the help up, hoping that maybe he'd take this as a sign that she still wanted to believe in him. He offered the same help to Jenna, but she skipped the stairs entirely and instead jumped up onto the stage just next to Brian.

And, with her back still to the audience, Jenna whispered, "You do anything to Eve that even approaches hurting her or getting the crowd to hurt her, and you're deader than a piplup cornered by a pack of luxray. Got it?"

In response, he bowed to her, and said in a low voice, "I wouldn't think of it." Then, rising, he walked back to his microphone; at the same time, a stagehand brought out a new microphone and podium, presumable for Eve's use.

As the stagehand was getting the microphone and everything set for Eve, Brian said to the crowd, "Now everyone, I'd like for you to give a warm welcome to Eve Addamson." The majority of the crowd clapped, though not with any great level of enthusiasm. "Despite the recent occurrence up north of Mahogany Town, I have no doubt that she is an excellent person, albeit with views quite contrary to my own. Now Eve, I've been quite eager to have a good, clean debate with you concerning our differences in opinion. If I'd known you would be gracing us with your presence, I most certainly would have planned for it. However, considering that we are both here, how would you like to have a little informal debate? No moderator, of course – just one wit pitted against another."

Eve smiled; no matter how the crowd had interpreted some of his comments, he seemed completely sincere in what he said. Even under the circumstances, he was pleasant to listen to, and pleasant to talk to as well. "I'm afraid that would be rather stupid for me, to be perfectly honest," Eve said. "You're a much better speaker than I am, no doubt about it. And you have a very sympathetic crowd, since they all came to see you, not me."

"You flatter me too much. People don't come to hear me speak – they come because they want truth. If you have the truth, then surely they shall come to see it," he said. "However, if you don't want to debate, then it's not much of a problem. Perhaps you'd prefer to tell us just what happened with those gyarados? Or maybe explain why you're having secret meetings with a being such as Lugia?"

Eve scowled now, and the crowd roared at her with rage; many apparently believed Rocket's take on the Lake of Rage deaths. "The police reports detail everything that happened at the Lake of Rage. Unless you'd like to call me a liar, then you can look at them for all the information you want concerning that tragedy. And as for Lugia, what makes you think that I've even seen her, nonetheless met with her?"

"Oh, forgive me. I didn't mean to insinuate that you lied about the gyarados at all," Brian said, a sickly-sweet smile on his face. "And as for Lugia, mayhaps I am mistaken… But is that not one of her feathers in your hair? Silver Wings are rare items in legend – I've never heard of anyone simply stumbling across them without first stumbling across Lugia herself. What possible purpose could you have for keeping a meeting with such an important pokémon secret?"

The crowd murmured. Of course, the media had noticed her new acquisition, but everyone without fail had assumed it to be a trinket she'd picked up at one of the innumerable gift shops that profited from the Argentum and Aurum religions.

Yet somehow, Brian knew or suspected that it was something much more important than a mere souvenir. Eve debated for a few moments how to respond to his question; while a lie would be the convenient option, she had the feeling that Brian would see through it almost immediately. After all, she knew she was a terrible liar. She also couldn't shake the feeling that he'd somehow be able to prove that it was what he'd said it was.

So, in the end, she decided on going with the truth. "Well, I wasn't really keeping the meeting secret. But I've been recovering from a lung problem since it happened, and I wasn't quite sure how to tell everyone in the public without them thinking me a liar. If I may ask, how'd you know the feather was the real deal?"

The crowd grew loud as people turned to their neighbors and began talking; this was huge news. The last human to have even glimpsed Lugia was already a legend. Not only had Eve seen her, but she'd spoken with her and received one of her feathers.

Brian waited for the noise to die down, then answered, "You don't seem like the sort of person who'd wear something so religious unless you thought it had greater meaning." Eve doubted that he knew her personality quite that well. After all, she'd been trying to unify the two major religions a couple of weeks ago; surely he'd interpret that as her having some religious background. He continued, "So you've never quite made it clear to all of us mortals – what could you possibly be conspiring about with at least four immensely powerful legendary pokémon?"

"I'm not conspiring about anything," Eve said, which she felt was true enough; it's not like she was plotting the downfall of humanity, as Brian seemed to be implying. "Lugia just gave me this feather because she likes what I'm doing. She wants me to help pokémon and humans get along, and not in the way that you suggest."

Jenna, who was standing just behind Eve, laughed. Eve hadn't told her about the meeting with Lugia, but over the past week she'd had the feeling that Jenna had guessed the truth. Perhaps that's what she was laughing about.

Her mirth was short-lived, though, and she quickly pushed Eve slightly out of the way so that she could speak into the microphone. "In that case, Brian, are you planning on disregarding a god's wishes? I'm pretty sure I'm the only one allowed to do that in here."

There were some chuckles at this, and some shouts of outrage at the blasphemy.

"Of course I wouldn't want to disrespect Lugia's wishes," Brian said. "But how do we know that you, Eve, aren't twisting her words to suit your political agenda? My plan proposes a more perfect union between humans and pokémon – one where humans need not live in fear, and where wild pokémon live far away from human society. It's better for everyone, and I see no reason why the Argentum religion would find a problem with it."

"No reason except that their god denounces it," Eve said simply, pausing for a moment to let this fact sink into the crowd. "Anyway, is there any particular reason you wanted to talk to me in front of all these good people? We both know that they didn't come to waste their time listening to me speak. And since I don't really want to debate…"

Brian smiled and inclined his head. "Of course, and I'm sorry to take up so much of your time. There is just one last thing I wanted to mention… That is, a proposal for a battle between the two of us sometime in the near future. What do you say?"

The crowd roared; Eve knew that many of them had been wanting to challenge Eve themselves, and they were probably just as excited to have their political idol do it for them.

"But aside from Basil, I've only known my pokémon for a few months," Eve said, knowing that she'd probably lose a battle. The crowd booed as she continued, "If I remember correctly, you've trained your pokémon for years. That hardly seems fair."

"But you show an obvious aptitude for training – if I'm not mistaken, your chikorita evolved into a bayleef some time ago, and you have an arcanine as well. I only have two evolved pokémon as well. It ought to be a rather even match."

Eve thought frantically for a moment, then resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't back down without hurting her cause. _It's only a battle, after all… Losing would be embarrassing, but that's about the extent of the damage it would cause. _"All right, a battle it is."

Brian grinned, and the crowd cheered. "Perfect. If you'd be so kind, would you wait backstage as I finish speaking to these lovely people here? We'll work out the details afterwards."

"Um, sure," she said, not quite sure how to respond. Stagehands came back on stage to remove her podium as she said this, which she took as her cue to leave the stage. Jenna followed behind her; Eve saw her chuckling slightly as they exited the limelight, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out why she was in such a good mood.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Brian didn't even mention Eve for the rest of his speech, perhaps out of respect for his 'guest' backstage. Eve listened intently most of the time, though sometimes her mind wandered off to other thoughts. _Who is Brian, really? He told me personally that he didn't want to do these rallies… Yet he speaks with such conviction that it's hard to believe he was a hundred percent truthful on that account. So what side is he on?_

After the rally, the first thing Brian did before meeting the press in a smaller room of the building was rush backstage and speak with Eve. He looked almost unhappy as he said, "Eve, listen, I'm really sorry about all that. Rocket Corporation has been wanting for me to talk to you when you didn't have Mark to defend your positions. I think they were hoping you'd have a major slip-up, which you really didn't, thank Arceus. I'm sorry for anything less than flattering that I had to say, but they were all points that my bosses wanted me to bring up, whether or not you had been here. And the Lugia feather, I _definitely_ had no idea that it was real. I never would have guessed. That was something that my superiors wanted me to mention as well – I can't help but wonder whether or not they have someone trailing you. You might want to keep an eye open for that."

Before Eve could respond, he quickly continued, "Also, I'm sorry about the battle, but it's the only way I could think to pacify my followers. I'm starting to see just how violent they're becoming. I know you've received threats from some of them. I'm worried that if there isn't some public show of force on my part, they're going to jump you with their own pokémon. But if we battle… Well, if I win, I figure that they'll be sufficiently appeased. And if you win… I guess they'll be angrier than ever, but you'll have also proved that trying to attack you might not be the smartest thing on their part."

"So… Are you saying all that out there is just an act? The speech and everything, I mean." Eve asked.

Brian shook his head. "Not all of it. I mean, I do believe that wild pokémon need to be controlled more, minus the extermination part maybe. That's why I'm not completely opposed to doing these rallies, in which case I truly would just quit my job. But I don't like how Rocket makes me go about it – accusing you of murder at the Lake of Rage, trying to make it seem like you're plotting something with the legends… All that's stuff that I don't like."

"I'm glad to hear that your opposed to all that," Eve said. "And though I still disagree with your plan even on its most basic points, I won't deny that you make it sound as if it would be a good plan. You're certainly a very good public speaker."

"Yet again, you flatter me," Brian replied. "I just speak what's on my mind, with a couple of things from Rocket's philosophies added in. I mean, whether you disagree with me or not, I truly believe in what I say. It's true that my parents died when I was a kid, and I feel like those sorts of tragedies could be prevented."

"Speaking of that… This may be a really weird question, but do I know you?" Eve said; that vague feeling of remembrance had been bugging her since the start of Brian's speech. "It's just that… I recognize your story, and I can't shake the feeling that my parents and I attended your parents' funeral. But I would've been pretty little back then, so I don't remember more than that."

The smile on Brian's face grew wider. "I was wondering if you'd ever remember, though I didn't want to be the one to bring it up. But yeah, if I remember correctly, my parents worked with your dad several times on a long study they were doing about how rock- and ground-type pokémon incorporate the minerals of their environment into themselves. Since your dad's a good geologist, they found him and asked him for his help a lot. Sometimes your dad brought you along, so I played with you then. They're pretty vague memories, but since it was the only time I could see wild pokémon safely, I remember those times somewhat. I was about six then, I think. Small world, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Eve said, briefly recalling a time when she had played with him and his father's numel.

Brian didn't linger on the subject. Instead, he continued on, "Listen, I've gotta get to the press soon. So really, when do you want to have the battle? And what rules do you want to go by?"

"Um, I need a little time to prepare, I think," Eve said. "How about a week from today? And I've only got four pokémon right now, so let's make it four-on-four, no substitutions. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, sounds perfectly fine to me. Anyway, I'll talk to you later. Yet again, sorry about anything I have to say about you – I'll do my best to get Rocket to let me let up a little. See you around!" He hurried off in another direction, not bothering to wait for Eve's response.

Jenna looked at Eve intently. "So what do you think now? Trust him yet, or no?"

Eve rubbed her aerodactyl egg thoughtfully. "Haven't a clue, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'll trust him, but I'll keep both eyes open for trouble."

Jenna slapped Eve on the back. "Glad you're finally showing a little bit of sense. Anyway, let's go find Mark – I can't wait to see his face when he hears about all this."

* * *

I keep on forgetting that Eve's carrying around that aerodactyl egg everywhere, so I always have to go back through the chapter and add it in. Though admittedly, by 'all' I mean the three or four chapters that she's had it with her. Also frustrating is when I have to go back through my document and specifically check that I haven't switched Brian's name with Mark or Katsu, since I have a tendency to do that. The same thing more occasionally happens with Eve, Hope, and Jenna. Why? I'm really not sure. But speaking of it, you should really tell me if you ever notice that, so that I can fix it. I know I've messed these up in published chapters before.

Anyway, as of now you can officially see Brian as a bit more of a major character... Up until now, he's just sort of popped up here and there. I guess that'll still be more or less what he does (sort of), but just much more frequently. Thanks to the reader who gave me the idea for him - it's really been helpful for planning ahead! (To said reader: you should really just get a fanfiction account so I can mention you by a name. Just saying reader is weird. Plus, then you could review right after you read the chapter, instead of just telling me at school occasionally, which would brighten my day. Just sayin'. lol. ^_^)

And yay! I'm actually keeping up with my schedule! Really, it's been quite the surprise to me... Turns out that I've always had more time to write, but I've been too lazy to do it. But I have no anime or manga that I'm watching/reading right now, so that helps. I also finished playing Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, which was AMAZING. My mind exploded. And NOW I am borrowing a friend's PS2, KH 1 and 2, and KH Chain of Memories... So, to be honest, this might end up getting a little side tracked. I'll still keep it up, but as I've mentioned before I even knew I'd be borrowing them, weekly might not keep happening. I'll do my best, though.


	28. Battle

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Battle**

Eve spent almost all of the following week training with her pokémon, doing her best to prepare for the undoubtedly tough battle with Brian. She wouldn't have bothered if not for Mark's assertion that the battle really would be important in the grand scheme of the politics; using his own election story as an example, he pointed out just how easily something like a good battle can change public opinion. Yet despite his insistence, he didn't help out with her training at all. At the urgings of Jasmine, the gym leader of Olivine City, he and Cynthia had headed over to her part of the country to campaign.

Jenna and Eve had originally been planning on joining them, but the sudden proposal for a battle had forced them to stay behind and avoid the campaign trail for a few days. And though Jenna hung around constantly and watched Eve's training in the forest just south of town, she gave no advice to her whatsoever.

Of all the rude comments and less-than-kind things Eve had endured from Jenna, this refusal to aid her in training annoyed her more than anything for some reason. And she made sure that Jenna knew it.

"Would you remind me again why you're just standing around watching me?" Eve asked on the last day before the big battle. She was feeling quite stressed about the prospect of the battle tomorrow, to the point that her usual kind ambivalence toward Jenna had turned into terse comments such as this. She instinctually reached up to place a hand on her egg, which normally calmed her somewhat; unfortunately, she remembered too late that she had left it back in her room at the pokémon center. This realization made Eve feel stupid for thinking that it was there in the first place, further souring her mood.

Jenna sat at the base of a nearby tree, brushing out the fur of Amber, her ninetales. "I'm supposed to be watching you. Remember? Sort of a personal bodyguard job. You're lucky to have me around." She didn't look up from the creamy yellow fur as she spoke; she always reserved eye contact for when she was particularly intrigued with a person or conversation.

~But you _could _at least be helping us train,~ Hannah said as she stretched her vines to extend their reach. ~Amber, you could help us, if you wanted to.~

Amber opened her eyes at this comment; up until now, she'd simply been enjoying the feeling of the brush moving through her fur. ~If you could last more than a minute in a battle with me, then it would be worth my time. As it is, I only train with those who can help me become more powerful as well.~

~I could last that long,~ Aiden growled; he seemed more agitated by the ninetale's presence than any of Eve's other pokémon. ~Don't you dare underestimate my strength.~

~I second that!~ Basil said, sparking defiantly. ~I bet I could take you on, for a while at least!~

The ninetales let her eyes roll past them and to Pebble. ~And what about you? Do you think that you would be a match for me as well?~

Of all the pokémon present, Pebble was probably the one most suited for a battle with Amber; he had power that came from his age, a thick and powerful body nearly eight feet in length, and an aqua tail attack at his disposal. Add to these a resistance to fire, and it would have seemed a great match up for him. Yet in spite of this, he replied, ~I won't exaggerate my strength. It couldn't match up to yours, I'm certain. Yes, I could last for a minute, but I hardly believe that the battle would be of much use to either of us.~

Jenna, who had obviously caught none of this conversation, now spoke up. "How come you're just standing around, Eve? Don't you think you should get back to training? The battle's tomorrow, in case you've forgotten."

"Then why don't you help me train?" Eve retorted, the frustration in her voice obvious.

"And what fun would that be?" Jenna replied, untroubled by Eve's strangely harsh demeanor. It was about as close to anger as Eve had ever been around her. "The win won't be worth nothin' if you don't work for it on your own. So go on, get back to training."

Hannah flicked her leaf in annoyance. ~Why don't we pick a battle with her? You know, force her to train with us.~

Amber's eyes flashed dangerously at this comment, though her body retained its perfect calmness.

Eve sighed. "No, that's probably not a good idea. Let's just get back to training."

~But Eve, I really don't like her being so mean to you,~ Aiden whined. ~She's being purposefully unhelpful just to see if she can make you angry, probably. Can't we just have a quick fight with her? I don't even care if we lose – I can't stand her being so rude to you.~

~Agreed,~ Basil said. ~You've put up with her for a while now. I don't like seeing you just accep such rude treatment, even if she _did _save the world once upon a time. Just one quick battle. Please?~

A spicy aroma emanated from Hannah's leaves. ~Count me in as well. We're not making much progress just talking about how annoying she is, after all.~

Pebble shook his head sadly, almost as if he was dealing with bratty children. Of course, considering that even Amber was a good twenty years younger than him, this was partly true.

Eve saw this motion, and felt more or less the same way. A battle with Jenna would probably only leave Eve's pokémon too damaged for battle tomorrow. "I appreciate the thought, guys. But I don't think it would help. So for now… let's go back to working on the accuracy of ranged attacks."

And though Jenna continued to train her eyes only on her ninetales, the grin on her face grew wider as Eve and her pokémon recommenced their training.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Best of luck to you," Brian said as he shook Eve's hand. It was a Saturday, and they were in the center of Ecruteak Gym's main battlefield; since Morty took a break from gym battling every weekend, Brian had decided that this would be the best location for the battle. Seeing as it was the largest battlefield in the area – with stands to either side that could hold up to five hundred people – it had been a good choice. The gym was literally packed with curious citizens and political die-hards alike.

Eve nodded, smiling. "And best of luck to you, as well. Though I doubt you'll need it."

Brian let go of her hand and walked back to his side of the room, letting this last comment stand. Eve likewise strode nervously over to her trainer box, fingering the pokéball of the first pokémon she would send out.

As soon as the two trainers were in their respective positions, the judge shouted out, "This battle will be four-on-four, with no substitutions. Do the competitors have any questions?"

Neither Eve nor Brian responded.

"Then let the battle… commence!"

At this last word, they threw their pokéballs into the air simultaneously; the crowd watched in suspense as the red energy burst from their containers and took solid form.

On Eve's side, Hannah took the battlefield; she was by far the most psyched of Eve's pokémon due to the fact that she hadn't been in a true battle for some time now. Eve had thought it best to start with someone who was truly excited at the prospect of battling, as a way to boost her own confidence.

Perhaps ironically, Brian had chosen his croconaw as his first pokémon, making the first match-up a battle between two of the evolved forms of the Johto starter pokémon.

_The good news is, Hannah has the type advantage, _Eve thought to herself as both pokémon sized each other up. _The bad news is that this is the weakest of his top four pokémon, if Mark's information is to be believed. Which means it will only get worse from here on out._

"Ladies first!" Brian shouted out from the other side of the field, a mocking tone in his voice; it was as if he was a completely different person from the man who had wished Eve luck just a moment ago.

~My pleasure,~ Hannah said. ~I think a poison razor leaf is in order, don't you, Eve?~

Eve nodded, even though Hannah couldn't see the motion. "You know what to do!~

Without any further ado, Hannah sent off a barrage of poison-laden leaves. Brian reacted quickly, however: "Water gun at the leaves!"

The croconaw opened his large jaws and sent a stream of water gushing forward; the water collided with some of the leaves head-on, slowing them if not completely halting their progress. The stream was too narrow to stop all of them from hitting, yet for some reason, the damage he took was completely superficial. Even after receiving scrapes from several of the leaves, he showed none of the obvious signs of fatigue that the poison should have caused.

_The mist from the water gun probably washed it all off in the air, _Eve concluded after a couple seconds of thought. _Was that coincidence, or did he study up on my battle strategy and plan ahead? Either way, I suppose we'll have to move to another attack._

The time Eve had spent thinking this had lost her precious moments, however. Brian was already calling his next attack. "Get in close and use ice fang!"

Eve watched as the croconaw charged forward, water coalescing around his teeth and quickly turning to ice. "Defensive vine whip! Don't let him get too close!"

Six vines shot out from around Hannah's neck, each stretching nearly twelve feet in length. She had improved a lot on the use of her vines recently, even despite the relative lack of training she had had up until the last week.

"Switch to headbutt!" Brian shouted.

The ice melted from the croconaw's fangs as he lowered his head. Eve quickly saw what Brian was planning; with enough momentum, Hannah's strong vines wouldn't be able to stop the attack.

Slightly panicky, Eve yelled, "Grab on to him right as he hits – bring him down with you!"

Hannah did as she was told, though not without difficulty. This croconaw had quite a few years of training more than her, and his headbutt certainly packed a punch. Yet when he hit her, she somehow managed to reach her vines around his body, pulling him to the ground with her as she fell. Without Eve's direction, she quickly looped two of her vines around his jaws, effectively muzzling him; the other four she kept entwined around his body, making him immobile.

~His jaws are only powerful when biting down, not opening up,~ Hannah said proudly as she brought herself to her feet, still keeping the croconaw tightly within her grasp. As much as the croconaw struggled, he couldn't escape from Hannah's grasp or open his mouth even an inch. ~What should I do now?~

Eve grinned with relief. "Nice bind attack! Now throw him down to the ground and use body slam on him!"

"Use iron tail on the vines!" Brian ordered in response. Using his still free tail, the croconaw managed to hit her vines before she could throw him, forcing her to withdraw them; yet she ignored the pain and carried out her body slam attack anyway, hitting him as hard as she could before quickly backing off again.

"Are you all right?" Eve asked.

~Yes, I'm fine! But you're wasting time! Order another attack while I have the advantage of distance – I'm not going to be able to make it if he lands an ice fang!~

Just as Hannah was saying this, Brian indeed ordered another charge with ice fang, hoping to catch Hannah and Eve off guard.

"Then, uh, razor leaf! No poison!" Eve shouted, panicking again. Before Brian could react, the salvo of leaves launched itself from Hannah's leaf as she twirled it above her head. Since she wasn't focusing on adding poison to them, the leaves were both faster and more accurate. Croconaw was forced to a stop just a few feet away from Hannah, turning so that the leaves hit his back instead of his face and stomach.

"Get away, croconaw!"

"Use vine whip, Hannah!"

Croconaw quickly tried to run as the leaves suddenly stopped, yet he soon found himself tripping on one of Hannah's vines as all six of them began beating at his body. Already weakened from the razor leaf, the croconaw found himself unable to push himself back to his feet as Hannah lashed at his back.

When Hannah finally withdrew her vines, the water-type was all but immobile.

"Brian's croconaw is unable to battle!" the judge cried out, provoking many boos from the crowd; most of them were the more radical supporters of Rocket Corporation and Brian.

Brian shrugged it off as he returned his croconaw. "Don't you think you ought to tell your pokémon what to do, not the other way around? That bind attack wasn't even your plan."

"If Hannah or any of my other pokémon can improvise, then I don't see why I shouldn't let them," Eve answered. "After all, they're the ones battling. Surely they have a better sense of what to do than I do." Yet despite the sense in this answer, more discontented shouts were coming from the bleachers. It was practically unheard of for a trainer to let their pokémon do anything outside of their direct orders.

Brian seemed to ignore both Eve's response and these shouts, and instead proceeded to call out a large, metallic bird-like pokémon.

_That would be skarmory… By the looks of things, this battle is going to go back and forth depending on who has the type advantage._

Before Eve could think of what to do, Brian ordered a wing attack. The skarmory dove with incredible speed, easily striking Hannah before she could even think to dodge. It knocked her to the ground. After a couple of tense seconds, it was clear that she wasn't going to get back up.

The crowd cheered as Hannah was recalled. Eve let out a breath as she picked her next pokémon, trying her best to calm herself. _That skarmory is strong… Of course, Hannah had already taken damage from that headbutt and iron tail attack, but still…_

Basil was her next choice; if Mark was right in his guesses on what pokémon Brian would use, then this skarmory would be the only pokémon other than croconaw that electricity would be strong against.

"Agility!" Eve shouted right as Basil appeared. She'd taken Hannah's earlier criticism to heart; she couldn't hesitate in a battle. "Your goal is to keep Skarmory from hitting you with any physical attacks!"

Basil began to dash around the battlefield, sometimes changing direction so quickly that the eye kept on looking at his original course for a second or two before realizing he wasn't there.

"Gust – blow that runt into the air!" Brian said. The skarmory flapped his wings powerfully; the wind slowed Basil down for a moment, but he quickly adjusted his course to use it to his advantage, letting it speed him to as close to Eve as he could get. At this distance, the gust didn't have as much effect, though it was still strong enough that Eve had to bend into it to keep from being blown over.

As quietly as she could so that Brian wouldn't hear the command, Eve said to Basil, "Charge, then a thunderbolt attack. Just keep on using thunderbolt whenever Skarmory is far away, and go with agility whenever he's close."

His red cheeks sparked with electricity for a moment, as did the small sunburst mark on his head where Eve had transferred Raikou's gift of power into him; though it had faded in the past weeks, it obviously still contained all the potential power that Basil would have if he ever chose to evolve. Then, once he had accumulated enough power, he sent off a powerful blast of electricity that arced towards the flying-type. Basil couldn't have missed even if he tried; Skarmory was practically a flying lightning rod.

The bird shrieked in pain, its cry halfway between the call of a fearow and the grinding of two pieces of metal together. He dropped a few feet in the air, but he gathered himself before completely plummeting to the ground.

"Quick attack!" Brian said.

"Agility!" Eve responded quickly, knowing that Basil's small body would be no match against the sharp mass of Skarmory.

Though the skarmory was fast, this small size of Basil and his already boosted speed worked to his advantage; he dodged, then quickly followed Eve's plan and sent off another thunderbolt, though this one was weaker than the first.

"Razorwind!" Brian ordered.

"Endure it and use thunderbolt!" Eve said. And though the wind did actually hit Basil with enough force and with enough of an edge to badly cut him in several places, he ignored the injuries and instead focused on sending off yet another powerful thunderbolt. This time, Skarmory crashed to the ground, unable to recover.

Brian withdrew his skarmory without even waiting for the judge to declare him incapable of battle. He threw his next pokéball into the air, and the red shape of the energy that took form in front of Basil was nearly a foot taller than Eve; it was by far one of the most intimidating pokémon Eve had ever seen, at least as far as size goes.

It was large, red, four-legged pokémon, though his abdomen was so thick that he seemed more like a quadrupedal wall than an actual living, breathing pokémon. Two volcano-like protrusions sprouted from his back, and his mere presence made the temperature of the room go up considerably.

"Basil, back off!" Eve commanded, inwardly wondering whether she should just withdraw Basil now. After all, his only really damaging attacks were electric, and camerupt had ground as one of its types.

Brian knew that Eve was in a tight spot, and he wasn't about to go easy on her because of it. "Magnitude."

The ground of the battlefield began to shake, so much so that Eve could see small fissures appearing in the sandy ground around the field's marked limits. Basil had no choice but to dig into the sand for dear life, though he might as well have been grabbing onto water for all the good it did him. He was knocked violently back and forth as the ground shook, the camerupt managing to keep up the quaking for nearly a minute before allowing it to die down. Eve was knocked off her feet as well, and suffered much the same problem as Basil.

Brian, for his part, had the sense to kneel down before the quake started, bracing himself against the ground to keep himself upright. Both Eve and Basil were still recovering as he stood up and ordered the next attack. "Flamethrower."

Still too shaken to move, Basil was hit with the full force of the flames. Eve didn't even wait to see if he would be okay after the flames were gone; she quickly returned him to his pokéball before the fire could do too much damage.

Eve trembled as she pushed herself to her feet, due in part to the magnitude just a moment ago, and in part to the brutal beating that Basil had just received.

Of the two pokémon she had left, only one made sense to use against a ground and fire type. "Pebble, it's your turn!" she said as the serpent appeared.

Brian looked at him curiously for a moment. "A dratini? Since when did you have one of those? I thought your only pokémon were a bayleef, a pikachu, an arcanine, and a gastly."

The mention of Blight hurt, but Eve didn't show it. "He's just a new friend I met a couple weeks back. Guess I haven't really battled with him at all yet. But you're up for it, right, Pebble?"

Pebble gently rocked back and forth, so slightly that it was almost imperceptible. ~Of course. It's always been a good way to pass the time.~

"All right, then. Dragon rage!"

A small sphere of bluish-purple fire formed just in front of Pebble's snout, then launched itself forward into Camerupts face. Though small, the dragon-type attack packed a punch, and it took a few moments for Camerupt to shake off the shock of the pain.

"Another magnitude, then," Brian commanded.

The ground began to shake again, though not quite as violently as before; Eve didn't react quickly enough, and was knocked off her feet again. Pebble, on the other hand, seemed to sway with the shaking, letting his supple serpentine body absorb the convulsions of the earth.

Eve struggled to get to her knees, doing her best to ignore the bruises that were already developing from the first magnitude. "Get close, if you can, and use aqua tail!" she shouted.

Pebble had absolutely no trouble moving quickly towards his target, even considering the still-quaking ground. As soon as he was close, he shifted his weight to the front four feet or so of his body. Water quickly formed on his tail, seemingly leaking from his skin; once it was sufficiently coated, he slammed it into Camerupt's head.

The hulking pokémon actually staggered with the force of the super effective blow. Pebble, though unevolved, easily contended with Aiden as the strongest pokémon on Eve's team.

Brian ordered a flamethrower, but before Camerupt could recover, Eve asked for the first attack that came to her head: bind. Pebble slithered onto Camerupt's head and neck – easily the weakest parts of his body – and began to squeeze with all his might.

Camerupt tried to shake him off, but his neck didn't have the mobility to get much speed into its throes. Pebble stubbornly kept his grip. Brian, visibly worried, ordered Camerupt to use lava plume, but Camerupt didn't hear this command. Pebble had quite cunningly made sure that his body covered both of Camerupt's ears, making him essentially useless due to how conditioned he was to only attack on his trainer's orders.

Eventually, his struggling slowed and stopped, and he collapsed to his knees. He simply couldn't get the oxygen that he needed to his lungs.

"Camerupt is unable to battle!" the judge declared. "Brian, you are down to your last pokémon!"

Pebble slithered back to Eve's side of the field when Brian recalled the camerupt to his pokéball. Eve wanted to congratulate Pebble, yet she was almost wordless with awe; even after training with him, she hadn't quite realized until just now exactly how powerful eighty years of experience made a pokémon. Especially a dragon-type.

"It's been an impressive battle," Brian admitted as he threw out his last pokéball. "But I'm afraid that's the last of my pokémon that you'll defeat."

A pokémon almost as tall as camerupt appeared, though it was not nearly as large thanks to the fact that it was bipedal. It was covered in brown fur, the only exception being the cream-colored ring on its stomach; it had long, powerful arms with sharp claws on its paws, and a very fierce expression on its face.

Despite its relative size, Eve was afraid of this pokémon more than any other on Brian's team. Even without Mark's warnings, she could sense that this pokémon – Brian's ursaring – was much stronger than any of his others.

"Slash!" Brian said.

"Dragon rage!" Eve replied as the hulking pokémon ran forward with surprising speed, hoping to maybe stop him before he reached Pebble. Though Pebble launched his attack with plenty of time to spare, the ursaring hardly even flinched when it hit. He just kept on charging forward. He swung his paws downward just as he reached Pebble, putting all his momentum into the blow; the sharp claws dug deeply into Pebble's side, opening a large gash a foot below his head.

Yet despite the blood now running down his body, Eve could tell that Pebble wasn't quite ready to give up.

"If you have it in you… Then use twister!" Eve said.

Pebble straightened a little bit, tensing as energy in the form of wind began to rotate around his body, kicking up the sand on the floor. The small dirt devil quickly turned into a full-fledged twister, with such strength that Eve felt herself being pulled into it. With a flick of his tail, Pebble made the twister move towards ursaring, find its target, and begin to revolve with a grim resolve around the pokémon, completely obscuring him from view.

Over the roar of the wind, Brian shouted, "Charge out of it and use thrash!"

After a few moments wait – perhaps as Ursaring struggled to get his bearing in the center of the twister that raged around him – he managed to escape from the funnel of wind. This last twister had obviously done a good bit of damage, judging by the cuts along much of his body and the slight trembling that filled his limbs.

Yet he didn't let this stop him as he found his target and ran forward yet again, this time slamming down his arms onto Pebble's body in an almost blind frenzy.

Knowing how much damage this would probably do, Eve rapidly recalled Pebble to his pokéball before the thrashing could continue for long. With that wound, Eve didn't want to force him to endure too much. She was down to her last pokémon now, and despite the fact that Ursaring was already worn down, Eve somehow doubted that she could win. Aiden was strong, but this Ursaring probably had attacks that could take him down in one or two hits.

"All right, Aiden, fire blast!" Eve said immediately as Aiden emerged from his pokéball, already in fighting stance.

"Dodge and use sweet scent," Brian said, apparently unconcerned. The Ursaring moved with his surprising agility out of the path of the strong but narrow blast of fire, then used his sweet scent attack; though there was no visible way to tell what he was doing, an almost sickly-sweet smell suddenly filled the air, emanating from his brown fur.

Aiden's eyes drooped a little bit, almost as if he was thinking more about the good smell than the danger of the battle. "Come on, Aiden, snap out of it!" Eve shouted. "Use fire fang!"

To Eve's surprise, Brian still seemed unfazed as Aiden ran forward. "Take the hit. Keep on using sweet scent."

Aiden charged forward with the speed and grace that only arcanine and a few other species of pokémon possessed; and he bit down with a power equal to his loyalty to Eve, which was such a bite that it would have given even a feraligatr a run for its money. Yet despite the flames that licked up from where Aiden was biting down on Ursaring's arm, the ursaring continued to use his sweet scent attack. Because of how close Aiden was now, he was breathing in the fumes directly. His body became noticeably more relaxed, even as he kept his tight hold on the arm.

Eve suddenly had a very bad feeling about where this was going. She wasn't one hundred percent sure what sweet scent did, but she didn't like how calm Aiden was. That sort of attitude was absolutely not good for a battle.

"Aiden, let go and get back far away!"

Aiden did as he was told, but his movements were sluggish; he had only managed to turn himself around when Brian ordered an attack that Eve had only seen a couple times before: hyper beam.

The ring on Ursaring's stomach glowed for a second as Aiden tried more frantically to escape. The fire-type's efforts were in vain, though; he still moved fast, but not with nearly as much of the unpredictable yet smooth movement of before. Ursaring opened his mouth and fired off a beam of pure energy before Aiden had gone even twenty feet.

This beam hit him mainly in the back of the legs, and the slight explosion that came from energy meeting matter caused the arcanine to tumble forward for a good ten feet before skidding along the sand for nearly twice that length.

Eve clenched her fists and waited, hoping that the blow hadn't been as bad as it had looked. But Aiden didn't get up. That one attack had been enough to knock the regal pokémon out.

"Eve's arcanine is unable to battle – Brian is the victor!" the judge shouted, though he was barely heard over the roar of approval of the crowd. Nearly two-thirds of them were Brian's most radical supporters, all of whom probably would have challenged Eve to a battle if Brian hadn't won.

As Eve withdrew Aiden to his pokéball, she tried to bite back her disappointment. She had never been a very competitive person, but for some reason, she really had wanted to win this battle. Perhaps this was due to Brian's charisma; part of her felt that maybe she'd earn more of his respect if she won, and for whatever reason, she really wanted that. Or maybe she felt as if this had been more than just a battle between two people. Though she might pass it off as an ordinary match, the truth was, it had really been a battle of ideologies. And in that battle, Eve and her beliefs had lost.

She tried not to let this disappointment show as she walked back to the center of the arena to shake hands with Brian once again.

"It was a good match," Brian said as they met, his attitude completely cordial. "You're pokémon are really strong, especially considering how short a time most of them have been with you. The only reason why I won is that I've trained my Ursaring for nearly fifteen years now."

Eve's brows slightly furrowed in response. "Fifteen? But you're only, what, twenty-five?"

"Not even that," Brian said, grinning. "Only about a year older than you, I think. I'm twenty now. I actually caught my teddiursa on the day that my parents were killed, and perhaps because of that coincidence, I've trained him almost nonstop ever since." He finally dropped his hand, but before Eve could turn and head over to where Jenna was waiting on her, he added something else in a low voice. "Eve… Do you believe that there's ultimate good and ultimate evil?"

The teen scowled again in response, looking into Brian's eyes as if she were trying to see into his soul. "Yes, actually, I do. But both are hard to see directly. Humans and pokémon are inherently good, but also inherently flawed – it's hard for one to completely overcome the other. Or so I think."

With a grave look on his face, Brian replied, "Well, while I can't speak for the good, I do want to give you a warning that the bad isn't quite as hard to find as you might think. I can't say much, but… Let's just say that the shadows in the hearts of many humans are stirring. I'd watch your back if I were you."

Before Eve could ask him what he meant, Brian strode off towards the crowd to greet his followers and probably give them another of his own heart-stirring speeches. She stood speechless for another moment, watching him as he walked away; then she turned, picked out where Jenna was at the edge of the crowd, and headed towards her, her mind still trying to decipher the meaning behind what had just been said.

Almost as soon as Eve stepped off the battlefield, Jenna grabbed her hand and practically dragged her towards the door of the gym.

"Huh? What's up?" Eve asked, temporarily bringing herself out of the reverie.

"You wanna get your pokémon to the pokémon center for healing, don't you?" Jenna said without turning around. "Well, if we hang around here too long, then the crowds and the press will _never _leave you alone. I don't want to wait around here all day." As she said this, she pushed her way through two or three of the reporters in question, all of whom had been planning on catching Eve as she left the gym.

Eve somehow doubted that this was why Jenna was so anxious to leave, but she was still too distracted with her own thoughts to care much. She simple followed Jenna through the streets until they made it to the nearby pokémon center. Almost as soon as she had dropped off her pokémon for care, Jenna started pulling on her hand again, very heavily suggesting that they ought to go hang out at the park for a while; Eve insisted on grabbing her aerodactyl egg first, but otherwise went without complaint. She had nothing else better to do with the rest of her afternoon, after all.

It wasn't until they were in a rather isolated grove of trees in the park that Jenna finally got to what was really on her mind.

"You know, Eve, I was actually kind of impressed with your battle," Jenna said as she pulled herself up onto a low-hanging tree branch and sat up there, her back against the trunk. "I mean, don't get me wrong: if you didn't have strong pokémon, you would suck as a trainer. You have absolutely no strategy. But what surprised me was how resolutely your pokémon stood up against their opponents. I'm certain Basil would have faced down that camerupt without flinching, if he'd had the chance. And you've only had Pebble for a couple weeks, yet he refused to back down even after getting that gash."

Eve was so shocked at this apparent compliment that she didn't respond until a couple moments later. "I think that's sort of just how Pebble is. He doesn't seem like a pokémon who would back down from a challenge, as long as it wasn't complete idiocy to keep fighting. And Basil… Well, he's Basil. He'd fight a wailord in the ocean and still not surrender, even considering his size."

"No, no, no. You don't get it," Jenna said, for once looking straight at Eve. "Yes, part of it is their respective personalities. But all of your pokémon fought with a sort of commitment that I don't see very often. I can't believe I missed it up until now; I guess this was the first real battle I've seen you in, so that gives me an excuse. Anyway, do you know what it takes to make a good trainer? Or, rather, do you know how it is that someone like me can become the strongest trainer in the world by the age of fourteen, when other people train their entire lives and can't even beat the pokémon league?"

Eve shook her head.

"Here's the deal. Part of it is training, and lots of it. I've had most of my pokémon since I was six or seven, and training has literally been our lives ever since I first captured them. But another part of it – the part that separates dedicated but unsuccessful trainers from truly remarkable trainers – has something more to do with how you relate to your pokémon. Maybe it's just because you can talk to them, or maybe it's something else that people like you and me and Cynthia share. And Mark and Brian, for that matter. And probably Hope, as well. Anyway, my point is, the normal bond between humans and pokémon is mediated by the pokéball, and the bond is fairly superficial in that sense. But for people like you and me, the link is different. Your pokémon don't battle for themselves, as a lot of trainers' pokémon do. They battle for _you. _The same goes for my pokémon with me. Even if I released them all right now and destroyed their pokéballs, they would battle for me against any adversary, even to their dying breath. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Eve lowered herself carefully to the ground, resting her back against another tree's trunk. She rubbed her egg thoughtfully and said, "Actually, yes. I've never really thought about it, but… What I guess I'm saying is, I've talked to a lot of trained pokémon. Most will say they love their trainers, but they'd have no issue going back to the wild. But your pokémon – and Brian's, and Cynthia's – they all talk about you guys and even just look at you in a different manner. I've never consciously noticed it before. How did you figure it out?"

She grinned. "Instinct. How else do I figure anything out? Anyway, here's the deal. I wasn't planning on telling you this, but after seeing that battle, it somehow seems like a good idea. So here goes. You've asked me before why I want to meet Ho-oh so much. Contrary to what you might think, it's not just for excitement, though I won't deny that my life can always do with some spicing up. But you see, there are a lot of legends about Ho-oh – including the Raikou, Entei, and Suicune one – that talk about the restorative powers of his fire. I figure that if he can do stuff like revive three pokémon at once, then he might also be able to fix what's wrong with my body. And as I said before, I'd really rather not die anytime soon. So I desperately, _desperately_ want to find Ho-oh and get him to help."

Looking up at Jenna and meeting her eyes, Eve asked, "Why didn't you tell me before? Didn't you think that I'd want to help you more if I heard that?"

Jenna made an indignant noise in her throat. "I didn't want your pity. I still don't want your pity. By Arceus's Plates, I'd never want to get something because of _weakness _rather than strength. Giratina might as well take my soul to the dark world the moment that happens, seeing as I wouldn't be able to live with myself after that. I'm just telling you now as a friend to a friend. And if you let me meet Ho-oh only because you feel sorry for me, then I swear you might as well just not offer. Because I _will_ know, and then I'll probably refuse to go. And I'll beat you to a pulp because you pitied me, too."

Eve's jaw practically dropped. She was absolutely stunned. Jenna, who had been so rude to her this past week, was actually openly calling Eve a friend. As if that weren't enough, she was finally revealing why she wanted to go see Ho-oh. And as if _that _weren't enough, she was saying that she'd rather die than be saved out of pity.

And all of these stunning facts culminated to one single conclusion in Eve's mind, completely blowing away all the doubt of before: Jenna was the one who could help her summon Ho-oh.

"Jenna… From a friend to a friend, let me ask you something," Eve said.

The girl – this strongest trainer in the world, though she was only in her twenties – tilted her head questioningly. "What?"

"Are your pokémon ready for a battle, should one arise?"

Jenna didn't hesitate in the slightest. "Of course. They always are."

Eve smiled. "Then here's the deal. In a couple days time, once my pokémon are healed but before Mark and Cynthia get back, you and me and our pokémon are going on a little trip to Bell Tower. We're going to meet Ho-oh. And do you know why I've finally decided to take you?"

"If it's pity, then I swear I'll beat you down right here and now," Jenna replied, her glare intense.

Eve actually laughed in response; something about this sudden change in the relationship between herself and Jenna made her almost giddy with a sort of happiness. "No, hardly. But the thing is, I need a human with me who can help me to summon Ho-oh. And based on what you just told me, I think that you represent power well enough to be that human. That is, only if you're willing to risk your life, because something tells me that neither Ho-oh nor Raikou nor Entei will be happy to know that I'm still not planning on destroying humanity."

"Sounds like an interesting story, that one does. Glad to hear that you don't hate us regular humans so much that you'd listen to nonsense like that," Jenna said as she jumped down from her tree and crouched down beside Eve. The smile on her face was broader than Eve had ever seen it, though it did next to nothing to hide the almost insane light that shone from her eyes. "Either way, count me in. Risking my life is my specialty."

"Glad to hear it," Eve said, a smile on her face as well. "But if we're friends now, you probably want to hear the whole story, not just that interesting little bit. So let me let you in on the secrets of all my scheming with the legends."

* * *

Man, are you guys lucky that I'm dedicated. I've abstained from playing Kingdom Hearts the last three evenings just so I could write this chapter, and it's killing me. Then again, most of you probably don't give a magikarp's scale whether I update or not, considering YOU'VE NEVER REVIEWED!

...Just kidding. I really don't mind it that much, though I'd appreciate it if you took the time to review at least once just to let me know what you think so far. I mean, I've got at least thirty or so people who have read up to last chapter and who I know have never reviewed (since there aren't that many people who review... by the way, those of you who have reviewed before are awesome ^_^). So yeah. Oh, and please remember that if I do miss a Thursday sometime in the near future, then I'll just skip that week and jump back on schedule the following week. I'm thinking it'll probably happen soon, since I really want to keep playing Kingdom Hearts, because it's AWESOME.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy writing this chapter until after the battle... This helped to remind me why I don't have very many battle sequences in this fanfic. They just aren't fun to write for me, except in some special circumstances. But next chapter... That will be a different matter.

Thanks for reading!


	29. Power

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Power**

"So is there any particular reason we haven't met anyone since the security guards at the gate?" Jenna asked as they walked down Bellchime Trail towards the giant tower that loomed ahead of them. "I mean, I'm no expert on Johto tradition or anything, but isn't this place normally packed with tourists and religious fanatics?"

Eve didn't hear the question for a moment; her mind was lost in thought at the prospect of what she and Jenna would probably have to face in just a few minutes. It was only when Basil gave her a little shock from his place on her shoulder that Eve came back to reality and her brain processed the question. "Oh, I've got connections," Eve said. "You know that I've been helping the High Priest of Aurum and the High Priestess of Argentum unite the two religions, right? Well, they both sort of owe me for that. I just asked the High Priest to close down the place for the day – we're the only people that the guards are authorized to let in, even into that sort of entryway temple." She paused as if finished, but then as an afterthought added, "Not to mention, Ho-Oh appearing here would do for him what the news of my meeting with Lugia did for Argentum."

"Speaking of that, I have another question," Jenna said. "Why not go at night, like you did with Lugia?"

"I told you that we're probably in for a battle. If that happens, I want to see what's happening, and I'd rather not be half asleep. Even if that means that the whole world knows immediately what's going on," Eve said.

Jenna fingered one of the pokéballs on her belt thoughtfully. "But you don't really think this battle will stay just in the tower, do you? Sure, judging by how far we've walked down this path, the tower's farther away than it seems. But that gigantic multicolored chicken can _fly_. How do we keep people away from our battle or, more to the point, how do we keep the battle away from the people?"

"Hmm?" Eve said. "I thought that you could manage it. You said you were the strongest trainer in the world, after all. But if you can't, then maybe-"

"Of course I can!" Jenna said indignantly. "Sheesh. I was just wondering if you were thinking ahead, is all. We're far enough away from the city that the only possible damage that might come about would be to the tower itself or to the temple. Or if someone is an idiot and tries to interfere, then they might get hurt, but any of my pokémon could easily handle someone like that while I keep up the battle with Ho-Oh. Anyway, we're pretty much at the tower now. How do we get those legendary mutts to appear?"

Eve sighed, wondering if continuing with this whole plan was really a good idea. This was _the _Ho-Oh they were talking about, after all. Could Jenna really handle things if Ho-Oh became enraged? What if her pokémon spent too much energy fighting off Raikou and Entei – how could they possible quell Ho-Oh's anger then?

_I wish I'd at least called someone to say bye… Just in case the worst does happen. I mean, Mark and Cynthia don't even know what we're doing. But it had just seemed too sad to do… _

~Eve, Jenna's talking to you!~ Basil said, zapping her ever so slightly. ~If you're this concerned, don't you think we should just quit now? Maybe come back another day?~

Eve looked silently at Basil for a few moments, then up at the tower. "No," she said. "Now that I'm here… I don't feel like I could turn around. Anyway, Jenna, what were you saying?"

"I was saying that you need to summon those stupid dogs or gerbils or whatever they are!" Jenna said. "I'm just itchin' for a battle. They ought to be a good warm-up for the battle with Ho-Oh."

"Remember, we won't battle unless we're forced into it," Eve reminded Jenna, who simply rolled her eyes in response. Eve wasn't quite sure what to think of that, but she nonetheless opened her mouth and called out quietly, saying a single word:

"Suicune."

After a few seconds of no change, Jenna looked at Eve with frustration. "That's it? How is it supposed to hear-"

She was interrupted as the pokémon in question suddenly bounded out of the golden-leafed trees that surrounded the tower. Suicune looked at Jenna for but an instant, then turned all her attention to Eve.

~I've sent my brothers word on the wind that you have called me, since they probably already sense that you and I are both here,~ she said, rushing her words; even the wind that blew against her ribbon-like tails seemed to pick up speed in her agitation. ~Raikou and Entei are not as fast as I am, and they did not stay as nearby as I did; nonetheless, they could be here any minute. We must speak quickly. Are we in the same understanding as when we last parted? You still have not changed your mind?~

Eve nodded. "Right. And I've let Jenna in on everything, and I'm confident that we'll have a fighting chance, even against Ho-oh. Jenna is powerful, no doubt about it."

Suicune seemed to relax a little upon hearing this news. ~I am glad to hear it. Now remember, as soon as my brothers have gathered, you can summon Ho-Oh. It is only their presence that is required, no their consent. I'll set up my wall, and hopefully this Jenna can help me keep them occupied while you summon Ho-Oh. Understand?~

"Yeah." Then, turning to Jenna, she said, "Jenna, you'll need to help Suicune keep Entei and Raikou busy while I summon Ho-Oh." As she said this, she pulled her long, slender pokéflute out from where she'd tucked it behind the belt-like part of her hip pouch; it had helped so much during her last summons that she thought it would be best to have it along again.

Jenna smiled, and for the first time, Eve noticed a strange gleam in her eyes that was almost frightening to behold. "Help Suicune? That's rich. Suicune, don't stress yourself about fighting them. If your brothers are as weak as you look, then a single one of my pokémon could probably take both of them at once. Get in my way, then it'll take out all three of you at once. Got it?"

At the exact moment that Jenna finished speaking, Raikou and Entei bounded into the small clearing that surrounded the tower. Excited energy seemed to course through the both of them; Eve didn't like to think how they'd use that energy when the excitement turned to rage.

Entei wasted no time getting to the point. ~So you've changed your mind, then? Have you finally realized the evils that humans create?~

Eve met his eyes, and in a quiet but unapologetic voice replied, "No, my mind hasn't changed. But it is your duty to help me summon Ho-Oh – whether you agree with me or not, you must do it."

The demeanors of Raikou and Entei changed almost instantly; nearly deafening growls rose from their throats as Raikou said, ~We cannot allow you to continue living, if that is the case. You have the potential to make your beliefs reality, and your beliefs are not something that should exist. You are certain that you will not change your mind?~

Eve looked at them both, but did not reply. Instead, she silently brought her pokéflute to her lips and began playing the first summoning song that came to her mind.

As she began, the atmosphere of the area suddenly changed; the wind stopped blowing, the rustling noise of the trees disappeared, and the sounds of the growling and the pokéflute seemed to echo. Eve paid this no mind, but Entei and Raikou promptly turned their attention to Suicune.

~Sister! What is the meaning of this? Why set up your crystal barrier around us?~ Entei said, the fur all over his body bristling in rage.

~For the same reason that Eve is playing a summoning song,~ Suicune responded. ~You must remain here while we call to Ho-Oh. The wall is to make sure you don't leave before the call has been heard.~

~Traitor!~ Raikou roared, the stormcloud on his back sparking violently as his rage surpassed even Entei's. He suddenly turned towards Eve and began to run forward, saying, ~No one shall be summoned if the girl is dead!~

Eve heard this, and closed her eyes and braced herself for the worst; but even in her fear, she continued to play her song. She was trusting her safety to Suicune and Jenna, at least until she could concentrate enough to make the summons a success; there was nothing more that she could do.

Raikou had gone only a few steps when something that appeared to be a brown ball of spikes slammed itself into Raikou's side with such force that he was sent flying some dozens of feet away. The prickly sphere simply bounced down to the ground where Raikou had just been and opened up, revealing a sandslash.

"What'd I say, Suicune?" Jenna said. "Told you I got this covered. This is light exercise for Sandy. Now Sandy, I'm not much liking that flea-infested fire-type over there. How about a slash attack?"

Entei blasted out a flamethrower at Sandy as she approached, yet Sandy kept on coming, her earthy skin practically impervious to the heat. She leapt up as she finally reached Entei and brought one of her claws down the length of one of his front legs, the sharp edge tearing through fur and skin and muscle as if it were made of soft clay.

Raikou had recovered by now; as Entei howled in pain, the electric-type dashed over to the sandslash, opened his mouth, and used a bite attack.

"Defense curl!" Jenna ordered, just in time; the sandslash turned back into a ball of spikes as the saber-toothed pokémon closed his fangs around his target. While Sandy undoubtedly took some damage from being almost completely engulfed by Raikou's jaws, it was Raikou himself who seemed to get the worse end of the attack. The sharp spikes that completely surrounded the softer parts of Sandy's body lodged themselves into the tender surfaces of Raikou's mouth as soon as he applied pressure; he quickly spit Sandy out, but the damage had already been done.

As Sandy uncurled, her spikes were completely drenched with blood; it gave her a rather grim look, though she seemed unconcerned by the thick crimson liquid that clung to her.

~Eve, you can stop playing!~ Suicune said as she let her wall drop; her voice sounded filled with hope. Though she hated seeing her brothers so injured, she was more confident than ever about summoning Ho-Oh now that she had seen Jenna and her sandslash in action. ~I can feel that Ho-Oh is coming!~

Eve sighed with relief, then gasped as she opened her eyes to the bloody scene before her. Entei and Raikou were now standing side by side, tensely waiting for the opportunity to make their next more against the tiny sandslash that stood before them. It truly was a gruesome and pitiful sight: gallons of blood were trickling out of Raikou's mouth ever minute, and Entei had taken all of his weight off of his injured left foreleg. Fur mostly concealed this latter injury, though the fur itself was so soaked with blood that it seemed black compared to the brown of the rest of his body.

"Jenna! We don't want to kill them!" Eve said. "They're terrible, yes, but they don't deserve to die!"

Jenna shook her head. "And this is coming from the girl whose butt I just saved from these pokémon. You really don't know how to be grateful, do you? Anyway, I'm just playing with them a bit. If they want to exterminate humanity, I thought they might as well feel what it's like when it's a human who's ordering the exterminating. Sandy, let's go with a series of dig attacks next."

Sandy obeyed without question, using her claws to dig quickly into the ground. In desperation, Entei leapt towards Jenna as soon as the ground-type was out of sight; but even underground, Sandy sensed the motion and emerged from the ground just beneath him. Covered in dirt, she hit him in the stomach with a powerful tackle-like attack, which knocked him off his feet and to the ground.

The sandslash dove back underground, then popped up again beneath Raikou. Raikou tried to create a shield of sparks around himself, but they had no effect at all against the ground-type.

Both beasts struggled to their feet again, but they already appeared to be at their limit.

~Please, Entei and Raikou! Stop battling! Ho-Oh is already summoned – you can do nothing more!~ Suicune shouted to them; Jenna had halted her commands for the moment, perhaps sensing that something was being said.

Entei turned his head towards Suicune and glared at her with such hatred that she took several steps backward. ~Unlike you, we will not betray the one who gave us back our lives,~ Entei said. ~We will fight for him, even if we must lose that gift. Such is the nature of loyalty.~

"But why be loyal if Ho-Oh is not deserving of your loyalty?" Eve asked. "He killed you in the first place. And do you really think he killed you just so he could reincarnate you? I suppose we could find out for sure in a bit, but it seems to me like you three were just casualties in his war against humans. He only revived you out of guilt, I think."

~Lies!~ Raikou said as he shot a thunderbolt from his back straight towards Eve. No one – not even Jenna – had expected the sudden discharge, and such is the nature of electric attacks that there was no possible way for Eve to avoid it.

She screamed in pain as it hit and collapsed to the ground, in the worst pain that she had ever experienced. She would have died except for Basil's presence on his shoulder – his body had naturally drawn much of the electricity to him, though it was far from enough to keep her from injury.

"You pathetic excuse for an electric pokémon, Raikou! That's underhanded – aiming straight for a human when she's not expecting it," Jenna said, absolutely livid. "Truly powerful ones fight only those who can fight back. Sandy, teach them a lesson, but don't kill them – I want them to be in pain for a long time after this." Then, calming slightly, she walked over to where Eve was lying on the ground and nudged her body with her shoe. "Hey, Eve. You 'n Basil haven't gone and died on me now, have you?" Her voice seemed as casual as her usual self, without even a hint of actual concern.

Somehow hearing the words over the roar of pain in her ears, Eve slowly came to the rest of her senses. She opened her eyes, moved her trembling arms, and tried to push herself off the ground; she'd only progressed a few inches when she collapsed again.

~Eve… Eve, please be okay,~ Basil said. He moved close to her face and looked into her eyes as she collapsed back to the ground. Though damaged by the attack, he was still far from fainting.

"I'll… be fine," Eve replied hoarsely, though she remained lying on the ground.

"Good to hear," Jenna said, still completely unconcerned. "I'd feel like such a failure if you died while I was around. Anyway, you might want to get up. I get the feeling that Ho-Oh will be here any minute."

Eve tried again to push herself back up, but her muscles didn't want to listen; they trembled even more violently before letting her fall back down to the ground again.

Suicune walked over and nudged Eve's body; all of a sudden, a cold sensation ran through Eve's blood, soothing her muscles somewhat. ~I can't do much, but that should help somewhat.~

This time, when Eve pushed herself up, her muscles just barely managed to overcome gravity. She managed to stand, but her whole body still shook, even though she was leaning against Suicune to help keep herself upright. As she looked around, she found it hard to focus her eyes on anything; dimly, she hoped that both the shaking and vision problems were only temporary.

Suicune suddenly tensed beneath Eve's grip, and Eve looked around to see what the problem was. She saw that Raikou and Entei were lying on the ground in a bloody heap, so that wasn't the cause of her anxiety. Her mind slowly struggled to think what else could be wrong, when nothing else threatening seemed to be nearby.

"Looks like the birdbrain is here," Jenna said with a frighteningly eager tone of voice. It took Eve a few moments to think of what Jenna was referring to, and when she finally figured it out, she turned her eyes to the sky.

There, perched at the top of the tower, was a bird that rivaled Lugia in size. Even in the muddled state that Eve's mind was in, she took in every detail of his majestic appearance: the bright orange, green, and yellow feathers that covered his body; the crown of curled plumage that sprouted from the top of his head; the talons, each of which were nearly as long as Eve's forearm; and the sparkling halo of light around him, that made it seem as if his feathers took in the light only to reflect it back a multihued rainbow of brilliance. Even though he was far from the ground, his sheer immensity allowed Eve to see all these aspects with ease.

Ho-Oh quickly seemed to realize that no one was at the top of the tower, so he opened his wings and descended. There wasn't space enough for him in the clearing just around the tower, so he let out of blast of flame that immediately incinerated a large section of the autumn trees. He landed among the ashes, and the cloud of the grey remains that resulted settled on his feathers and dimmed his radiance.

_What is going on here? _Ho-Oh said, anger apparent in his thoughts as he spoke telepathically. _What has happened to Raikou and Entei? Suicune, explain!_

Suicune lowered her head submissively. ~They did not wish to summon you, and they attacked the Not-Human. The human who represents power defeated them, though the Not-Human was injured in the process.~

_And why did they not wish to summon me? Do they refuse the duty I gave them when I resurrected them? _

~Ho-Oh… It is Suicune who is ungrateful!~ Entei suddenly said, struggling to lift his head; he had managed to force himself back to consciousness for a few moments. ~The Not-Human wants humans to continue to oppress pokémon! Raikou and I… We wished to stop her before you could be bothered with it, but we have failed. We are sorry.~

Ho-Oh let out a shrill shriek of rage. _Suicune! Is this true? Have you betrayed me? You know that there is no way for pokémon to reach true happiness so long as humans exist! We cannot allow such a Not-Human to attain the power of Arceus! She might too easily be swayed back to favoring those whom she was raised among, and then where would we be!_

Suicune only lowered her head further in response, misery emanating from her. ~I disagree. Eve can correct the imbalance. I believe that she will. And I know that killing off humans is not the way to fix the world.~

_You dare defy me? Then you will-_

"Yo! Ho-Oh! Down here!" Jenna suddenly shouted. Ho-Oh stopped midway through his thought and turned to look down at the bold girl. "Yeah, I'm not exactly used to being ignored, so I'm glad you finally see me. Anyway, here's the deal. I just took out both Entei and Raikou with just one of my pokémon, and she's not even badly damaged. I have five more pokémon of similar strength. Now, the only reason I'm here is because fighting with another pokémon like yourself ended up screwing up my internal organs or something, and I need it to be fixed if I don't want to die in a few years. You heal me with your magic flames or whatever, and I'll leave you to deal with Eve and Suicune as you see fit. If you refuse, then you're going down. So what's your choice?"

Basil sparked with anger. ~She was just using you all along, Eve! We've got to do something, or else we'll be in big trouble!~

Yet Eve was speechless with despair, her brain still struggling to comprehend what Jenna had just said. She had come here, ready to face death, yet she couldn't face the thought of Jenna betraying her. For all Jenna's numerous flaws, Eve had come to think of her as an essentially good person. More importantly, she'd come to see her as a friend. Was this all the friendship had really been? A ploy by Jenna to get to Ho-Oh?

Ho-Oh lowered his head and squinted at Jenna for nearly a minute without blinking; Jenna, likewise, looked back at him, seemingly unperturbed by his proximity. It was a battle of the wills, and it was a battle in which neither opponent would give way.

And during this minute, Eve sank further and further into despair. Despite Basil's urgings, she didn't even have the strength to take Aiden out of his pokéball and attempt an escape. It seemed useless; after watching Ho-Oh decimate an entire grove of trees in seconds, Eve knew that not even the arcanine's speed would be enough to escape Ho-Oh's wrath. Jenna had been her only hope. And that only hope was gone. It still wasn't this fact that scared Eve, though; it was the complete loss of the trust she'd placed in Jenna.

_Do you really think I'd fall for that lie, Human? _Ho-oh suddenly said, breaking the silence. _You do not intend to leave the Not-Human to my mercy, even if I choose to heal you. I assume that you share the Not-Human's sentiments concerning the alleged merits of humanity. Am I correct?_

Jenna broke into a smile, rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, and grabbed one of her pokéballs with the other. "Guess you saw right through me. And I thought the lie was pretty good, too. Eve even fell for it, I think. Then again, she's so gullible that she'd fall for any lie. And yeah, I don't exactly want to die out, nor do I want the rest of my species to die out. So…" she paused momentarily and threw the pokéball into the air; an enormous, green, armored creature appeared. The pokémon – a tyranitar – was quiet and seemed uneager to battle, yet he also awaited his trainer's instructions with complete obedience. Jenna continued: "A battle, then? What do you say, you big birdbrain?"

Ho-Oh spread his wings and flapped them powerfully, kicking up dust and ash so that it turned into a veritable cloud of darkness. _I accept your challenge, you idiotic human! Both you and the Not-Human will perish!_

Eve practically choked as bits of dust and debris entered her weak lungs, yet despite this, she felt content. Not a minute ago, she had been lost to despair; now, her hope had been restored. It had all been a bluff on Jenna's part. Now all she had to do was sit and wait in the dim obscurity of the cloud of ash, and hope that Jenna was called the strongest trainer in the world for a reason. Eve wanted to help somehow, but against a pokémon like Ho-Oh, there was relatively nothing that she or her pokémon could do.

Jenna, for her part, had just called out two more pokémon from their pokéballs, and was busy giving out commands to all four pokémon that she had out.

"Rasu, sandstorm! Use the dust to our advantage!" she said to her tyranitar. "Sandy, you keep an eye on Eve, and be ready if an opportunity arises to attack Ho-Oh. Flame," she said to her charizard, which was one of the pokémon she had just summoned, "you fly above the sandstorm and force Ho-Oh back down here before he can just wipe us all out with some massive fire attack. Don't use any fire-type moves – use shadow claw, wing attack, dragon breath, and stuff like that. And Stella," she said to a nidoqueen she had called out, "I want you to use shock wave as soon as Ho-Oh gets close enough for you to see."

All the pokémon did as they were told without any argument, and even though Jenna was at the very heart of the sandstorm that Rasu created, she acted completely unfazed by the rough winds that blasted against her relatively unprotected skin.

If Eve had been able to see her at this moment, she would have been more scared of her than of Ho-Oh. Ho-Oh was powerful, yes, but at least he was sane. Jenna, on the other hand, seemed to embrace the chaos and uncertainty of a blind battle with complete jubilation. She smiled broadly, and her eyes gleamed with unmistakable and complete insanity. She and her pokémon were fighting for their lives, yet the only emotion she felt was that of the thrill of battle.

"He's on the left! Shock wave and stone edge, Stella and Rasu!" Jenna shouted, her uncanny instincts telling her where Ho-Oh was even before her pokémon could sense him.

Soon they both saw the shadow, and they followed their commands. The nidoqueen, Stella, gathered electricity at the tips of her numerous spines, then sent a shock wave flying in the direction of the shadow; likewise, the tyranitar slapped his tail against the ground, dislodging several large stones and sending them flying towards Ho-Oh. The birdlike shriek that followed told them that their attacks were successful.

"Run! This way!" Jenna said, a maniacally playful tone in her voice. She dashed off in one direction, and her pokémon followed her. But Stella was not quite fast enough; Ho-Oh had managed to evade Flame for just long enough to send a fire blast towards the spot where the shock wave and stone edge had come from. Stella managed to endure the hit, but it was clear that any more damage would knock her out.

"You stay there, then, and keep up the shock waves if you see Ho-Oh," Jenna said. "Rasu, you head off that way and do the same with stone edge." Then she ran off in another direction, and kept on running until she found herself at the edge of the trees, where the storm wasn't quite as strong.

She pulled out another pokéball, and a golduck appeared. "All right, Silver, use psychic to mess with Ho-Oh's flying. I'll be getting Flame to come down here, so use hydro pump if Ho-Oh follows. Anyway… HEY! FLAME! GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE!"

From her place in the sandstorm, Eve heard this sudden shout; other than Ho-Oh's screech, it was her first indication of what was going on. She had heard or seen nothing else so far over the roar of the sand. She had simply curled up on the ground, doing her best to shield herself and Basil from the stinging pain of the wind and dirt.

Suicune had stayed there with her; but now, at this shout, she stirred. ~I don't care what Jenna said before. She's going to need help. I'm going.~

Eve made no protest, and so Suicune headed in the direction of the shout. In fact, Eve was thinking of doing more or less the same thing, even though there was little she could do.

"All right, Basil, that's it," Eve said, her voice still raspy. "We're going to go help." She pulled one of her pokéballs from her pouch, and called out Aiden. "Aiden, we're going to see if we can get a better view of what's going on. But you'll need to stay constantly on the move. Basil, I want you-" she paused, coughed the accumulating debris from her throat and mouth, then continued, "I want you to fire off thunderbolts if you see Ho-Oh."

Basil sparked, upset. ~But Eve, you're not well enough. We'll go, but you stay here. The sandstorm hides you from view.~

Eve shook her head and tugged on Aiden's fur; he knelt down reluctantly, letting Eve climb on. "No, I'm going. I want to see if I can talk some sense into Ho-Oh. Now let's go."

Aiden dashed off until he found one edge of the sandstorm; from there, the trio could look up to see that Flame was in the middle of a dangerous aerial dance with Ho-Oh, doing her best to fight him down to the ground without getting hit herself. As they watched, Flame suddenly made a dive down to the ground while Ho-Oh seemed to stall in midair, struggling frantically as if the air itself was rebelling against him. His contortions soon stopped, but Flame had already made it back into the air, this time with a golduck on her back; Eve seemed to recall that this was Silver, another of Jenna's pokémon.

Using her relatively smaller size and greater speed to her advantage, Flame got above Ho-Oh and began spewing some sort of purple-blue flames from her mouth; it reminded Eve of Pebble's dragon rage attack, at least as far as its color went. At the same time, Silver leaned over Flame's shoulder and spat out a huge blast of water straight at the base of Ho-Oh's neck.

Ho-Oh shrieked, fell closer to the sandstorm, and found himself bombarded with stones and an electric attack. He was close enough that Basil joined in as well, though his thunderbolt was only a fraction of the power of Stella's shock wave. Surprised by this volley, Ho-Oh landed heavily on the ground; Eve could see only his head and the tops of his wings rising over the cloud of swirling sand.

Yet despite all the damage that he had taken and still was taking, he seemed far from submission. Righteous anger burned in his eyes as he spotted where the stones were coming from; he shot a white-hot blast of flame at the source, and immediately the storm began to die down.

As she found herself coming into view, Stella – the nidoqueen – roared with fury, enraged by the very sight of her enemy. As she roared, the ground beneath Ho-Oh heaved up as the dirt seemed to come alive, rupturing beneath Ho-Oh talons and spewing forcefully at the rest of Ho-Oh's body. Eve had never seen anything like it. Dragonbreath and hydro pump attacks continued to rain down on Ho-Oh's head; Suicune launched off her own hydro pump attack from one side; and another pokémon on the opposite side – Jenna's ninetales, Amber – was firing off shock waves that glowed with a strange power similar to that of a psywave attack.

Ho-Oh shrieked again, opened his wings, and tried to take off, but the salvo of attacks was too much for him to bear. If he had taken on Jenna's pokémon one after the other, he easily would have won. But with them all attacking at once, each covering for the others when they took a couple seconds to catch their breath, there was nothing he could do.

"Aiden, get closer, but be ready to run if things get dangerous," Eve said.

~Eve! That's not a good idea!~ Basil said, even as Aiden began to walk towards the monstrous bird. ~If he gets even one moment of freedom from those attacks, then we're done for! He'll eat us alive!~

Eve ignored Basil, and looked around; Jenna was some hundred feet in another direction. Their eyes met, and Jenna gave the thumbs-up to Eve when she saw her approaching Ho-Oh; either she didn't care too much about Eve's safety (which was quite possible, judging by her reaction to Raikou's earlier thunderbolt), or she was confident that Eve would be safe. Either way, Eve urged Aiden onward.

Just as they reached Ho-Oh, the gigantic bird collapsed to the ground. Since landing, he had been unable to launch a single attack against his opponents, and their attacks were powerful enough that so many of them at once were able to take down even a mighty being such as himself.

Eve ordered Aiden to stop barely ten feet in front of the fallen bird, who was still conscious in spite of the damage he had taken. She shouted as loudly as she could with her hoarse voice:

"Ho-Oh! Please, give me the power that I need. I'm not going to make things any worse than they are, I promise. Pokémon and humans can live together in balance. I'm sure of it. That's all that I would attempt to do. I wouldn't do anything to upset either pokémon or humans. And if you would, please heal Jenna. She has saved the entire world from destruction before. I think she at least deserves to live for a long time."

Another shriek came from Ho-Oh's beak, though this one was weak compared to the defiant cries of before. _You won't do anything that will hurt either species - that is what worries me. The situation of pokémon cannot be improved unless humans are completely removed from the picture. True, I know that it is possible for humans and pokémon to get along, even in this world. That is the hope that people like you and pokémon like that fool Lugia cling to. But what you don't understand is that this possibility shrinks every day, and even if progress was made on that front, it would all eventually wither away to nothing._

_In the beginning of the world, pokémon were truly happy; and in the beginning, humans held little evil in their hearts. Yes, they had to live with caution out of fear of pokémon, yet this brought them closer together. This I witnessed, and this I know to be true. _

_But as time progressed, pokémon found their lives interfered with by humans. And as humans found their ingenuity more and more equal to the power of pokémon, avarice and wrath and other vices grew among them. Such is the nature of power among humans, that it breeds evil without being evil itself. In the present day, pokémon are killed for sport, their habitats are destroyed at the whims of humans, and they find their numbers beginning to dwindle. Even if you live a hundred years, it would not even equal a day of my life. How can you assume to know the truth of the matter when I have seen all since the beginning of time?_

Eve was speechless for a moment, in part because she felt there was no response to this. Here was Ho-Oh, who had lived for thousands of years; who was she to presume herself more knowledgeable than him?

And if what he said was true, then what could she do? Reduce humanity to what it once was: a species at the mercy of even a pack of poochyena? Or would she get the power only to realize that she was unwilling to do anything, for fear of making things worse?

But no; there was still more that Eve had to say. "But how can it be right for you to murder me, or Yellow, or Suicune's trainer? We are trying to do the right thing-"

_And in the process, you are doing exactly the opposite. _Ho-oh finished. _I murdered them and I would murder you, to keep disaster from happening. Even if you collect the powers and then choose to keep the world how it is, it will still come to ruin. In this case, doing nothing is the same as purposefully making things worse. For who is to know if Arceus shall leave another path for us to find him after you have already walked down it? If he doesn't and you leave things as they are or in a similar state, then this world would be left as a world ruled by humans; and a world ruled by humans can only continue farther and farther towards apocalypse. The world is already dying, Not-Human. I can hear its cries. Lugia can hear it, too, though she refuses to see what the true problem is. I used to admire her for her hope for a perfectly equal unity, yet now I curse her for failing to see what has become more and more apparent with time. _

_The power that I could give to you… I dare to give it only to those who are firmly on the right path. This is because the words of the humans that surround you will be like honey to you as your power grows. Though you may not be human, you are greatly influenced by humans. And they, in turn, are intoxicated by such power as the power you seek. They shall use you; and to your simple pokémon mind, the absurd things they tell you shall seem right. For a pokémon cannot lie, and thus a pokémon finds it hard to sift human lies from truth._

Doubt grew within Eve's heart, but she pushed it away as one memory came to her thoughts with vivid clarity. In her mind's eye, she saw the scorched and broken bodies of humans and pokémon alike at a bleak and desolate shore. That had been the fault of both humans and pokémon; and so long as that sort of thing could exist in the world, Eve knew that there had to be something she could do to fix the problems of both races.

"No matter what you say," Eve rasped out, "I still need that power. I will prove you wrong, and make things better for both humans and pokémon. From what Lugia said, it is your duty to Arceus to give the power to any Not-Human who can summon you. So give me the power of strength, or whatever it is that you represent."

_Ah, strength. One of the five fragments of existence. Do you know what it really means to be strong? One who is strong will persevere through any trial, and will never submit to the feelings of helplessness and despair. You are far from it. The girl who subdued me with her pokémon – she is pure strength, filled with almost none of the other five fragments. You do not deserve the essence of strength. And though that girl deserves much, I shall not give her the cure she seeks. Not so long as she aids you in destroying this world's future. _

"You stubborn featherhead! You do realize that I can hear your telepathy too, right?" Jenna said, running over. "You are going to heal my body, or I _will_ kill you. I don't care how closely tied you are to the essence of existence or whatever. Do you understand?"

An almost choking chirp sounded from Ho-Oh's throat; it was his form of a laugh. _Kill me as many times as you like. I am unique among all pokémon – even among the Great Ones – in the fact that even if I die, I shall be reborn. It is painful, yes, but my strength brings me through all trials. _

"Then how about this," Jenna said, pulling an empty pokéball from her belt. "I'll capture you and keep you cooped up in a pokéball until you give Eve her power and me my cure. You're injured enough that you won't be able to escape, no matter how strong you inherently are."

_Do with me as you will, Strong One, _Ho-Oh said, an almost amused edge to his thoughts. _You have won, and to the victor go the spoils. As I said, I am the essence of strength. I shall persevere through any trial, even captivity. Yet never will I submit. You understand this, don't you? Imagine yourself in my position, and ask yourself what you would do, even under the pain of torture and death. Now, my strength is even further refined than yours. How will you ever get me to do anything against my will, or convince me that my will is wrong in the first place?_

Eve watched Jenna as she ground her teeth in frustration, then took the pokéball that was in her hands and literally ripped it in half. "That's it. There's nothing more we can do the, Eve. Mr. Rainbow-Butt Feathers-for-Brains over here ain't gonna change his mind no matter what we do. I'm certain of it. And he'd probably be more trouble than he's worth to train, too. Let's go."

"Wait!" Eve said, finally getting down from Aiden. Aiden whined in response; even with all of Jenna's pokémon on high alert, he didn't like the thought of Ho-Oh possibly working up the strength to fire off another attack. "I can't go. I'm this close – it's literally like the power is calling out to me. Even just standing here is driving me nuts. I have to get it. It's instinct. I didn't feel it for Lugia's power, but now that I _do _have her power, it's… Well, it's unbearable."

"Then figure out a way to force him to give it to you," Jenna said simply. "I'll wait for a few more minutes, then I'm leaving. But I'm telling you, it's a wasted effort. He isn't going to do anything he doesn't want to do."

Eve frowned. "But I'm supposed to have it. I feel it," she muttered to herself. "Maybe… Maybe I can't force him to give it to me, but maybe I can take it by force all the same."

And – as if suddenly driven solely by that instinct that she had spoken of – she stepped confidently right up to Ho-Oh's head and snatched one of the many creamy yellow feathers that curled up from the crest of his head.

_NO! _He said, shrieking more loudly than ever as he shook his head, too late hitting Eve and sending her flying backwards. Eve dropped the feather as she fell, yet surprisingly, it didn't fall. When she stood back up, she saw it standing on-end in midair, refracting light in such a way that all colors seemed to be visible at once. The colors themselves seemed to coalesce into pure energy, which then snaked its way through the air towards Eve. Eve felt it strike her head near where the silver wing was, and when she tentatively reached up to feel her hair, she felt a new feather woven into the strands.

Ho-Oh's shrieking continued until Basil hit him in the face with a close-range thunderbolt, afraid that his rage might give him enough energy to kill Eve.

"Well, that's that," Jenna said. "Two bloody heaps of pokémon over there – don't worry, their still alive, of course – and the one giant heap of broken feathers over here. So what do we do with them? We can hardly just leave 'em here."

~Once you are gone, I will heal them enough to let them leave,~ Suicune said.

"But Suicune… They'll kill you if you're alone when you heal them," Eve said.

_No… We shall not. She is already dead to me in my eyes, _Ho-oh said, though he appeared to be completely knocked out. _She is no longer a daughter of mine. I shall allow the traitor to heal us, and then we shall have no more to do with her. I curse her, and I curse you, Not-Human. That will have to be enough for me. _

"Well, you heard the featherbrain with the anger-management problems. He'll keep his word," Jenna said as she began withdrawing her pokémon. "The strong have honor enough to recognize when they are defeated. Anyway, let's get going."

Jenna pulled on Eve's arm, and Eve slowly let herself be pulled away, all the while keeping her eyes trained on Suicune. Suicune – this queen of grace, this empress of wind, this regal embodiment of lakes and rivers – had lost all life that had once shimmered in her eyes. At Ho-Oh's statement that she was dead to him, all that she had left in the world was gone. Her first death had deprived her of a trainer, but given her a father in the form of Ho-Oh; but now she had been deprived of her father, and that had lead to her second death. Her body simply didn't realize it yet.

"Suicune…" Eve said as she walked away. "Suicune… Without you, Raikou and Entei would have killed me during our first meeting, more than likely. Please, remember that."

Suicune lifted her head and watched Eve as she walked reluctantly away. Her eyes were still dead as she said, ~I will remember it, Eve. Thank you. And if you ever need me… Speak my name to the winds. Wherever you are, I shall come. That I promise.~

And with that, Eve turned away from that sad sight. It was too much to bear. It was the sight of three pokémon filled with hate, all close to death but able to be revived; and it was the sight of the one pokémon filled with despair, still alive and yet already dead.

* * *

I would like to say that two miracles allowed this chapter to happen. The first was a snow day on Tuesday, which meant that my life wasn't hell trying to get FAFSA and my CSS financial profile in on the day it was due. The second was a snow day on Wednesday, which gave me the time to start, finish, and edit this chapter. And let me tell you, that takes FOREVER. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this, but by my estimates, it takes me roughly one hour for every thousand words, plus another hour during editing. Maybe a little under for both of those, depending on how much I like the chapter. So yeah, I'm guessing it was around seven hours of work total on this. And the first half felt like it went slowly because I was thinking to myself, "I could be playing Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories right now... But I'm not. Why am I writing this fanfic again?"

Then I got to the second half, and I was like, "WOW. Was not expecting half of that to happen, and I liked all of it. That's awesome!"

Anyway, on another note... I just realized that I have not been replying to reviews or even really thanking new reviewers in the chapters, due to my current Kingdom Hearts obsession... So here it is: THANK YOU to Oldenmw, Lala Land Yay, and jkwriting (my new reviewers) and to Yaersulf and RedemptionWarrior (continuing reviewers)! I really appreciate it, even though my brain is so focused on Kingdom Hearts right now that I haven't shown in lately!

As always, thanks for reading! :-)

EDIT: Thanks to Yaersulf for pointing out some name mistakes in here. I hate it when I switch around people's names randomly! I still don't know why I do it! But anyway, I'm really grateful for alerting me to the fact. :-)


	30. Choosing a Course

**Chapter Thirty: Choosing a Course**

As soon as Jenna and Eve exited through the main temple building of Bell Tower, they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of people. They had expected as much, seeing as Ho-oh had arrived at least twenty minutes ago; even without a battle to exaggerate things, his presence could not possibly have gone unnoticed. The guards had successfully been keeping the citizens at bay, though the crowd's fear of the fierceness of the battle would have been plenty to make them stay outside the main perimeter of the temple.

The questions and shouts and noises that suddenly bombarded the two victorious humans were just too much for Eve to bear. She had barely been able to walk back out to the gates. Without Jenna catching her every time she stumbled, it would have taken her nearly twice as long. Her ears were ringing, her vision was blurring again, and the energy that Suicune had passed on to her had all but left.

"Hey, idiots, make way!" Jenna said as she walked through the crowd, completely ignoring their questions. "Make way or I'll make you make way, and I somehow doubt you'd like that!"

Those immediately in front of Jenna stepped quickly out of the way, but they continued shouting as loudly as they could:

"Why was Ho-Oh here?"

"Were you actually battling with Ho-Oh! But why? Did you do something to upset him?"

"How did you get him to give you one of his feathers?"

"What happened to you, Eve? You look terrible!"

Jenna just rolled her eyes. "Listen, idiots. Ho-Oh just felt like testing our strength. We passed the test, so he gave Eve the stupid rainbow feather thing. Now Eve, why don't you get that arcanine of yours out again – you're pale as a froslass, and I somehow doubt you'll enjoy pushing your way through the crowd."

Eve brought a hand to her pouch and fumbled around for a few moments, eventually producing Aiden from his pokéball. The people nearby immediately made space for him; most of them were unused to seeing a pokémon so large in real life. Jenna and Eve both climbed onto the arcanine's back, and Jenna directed him to the pokémon center despite the illegality of having a pokémon of Aiden's size out of its pokéball within city limits.

They entered the pokémon center together after Eve returned Aiden to his pokéball, but they soon found themselves beset upon by two more people.

"Eve! Jenna! What in the world were you two thinking?" Mark said as he rushed towards them, Cynthia following just behind him. "Summoning Ho-Oh? You could've at least told us! What if something had happened? What if you'd needed help? Word only reached us a moment ago – we teleported to the tower first, but you were already gone. There's no way we could've helped in time if things had turned out differently!"

Cynthia, scowling, added, "Jenna, you cause your husband enough worry without getting yourself involved in a battle with one of the most powerful beings the world possesses. Couldn't you think of him? At least once?"

"Psh. He'll get over it. He wouldn't have married me if he didn't expect as much," Jenna replied. "And really, you both need to cool down. Step outside or something – it's fall, after all. Enjoy the leaves or whatever. I haven't had a battle that brilliant in _ages_. It's our own choice if we want to risk our lives, isn't it?" That insane gleam from before was still present in her eyes, though it had grown dimmer since the battle ended.

"Guys…" Eve said faintly, getting their attention. Though she was standing on her own, her whole body was visibly shaking. "Could we… you know… go somewhere else? I think I… I need to lie down."

"Jenna, what happened to her?" Mark asked. His voice was calm, though his gaze was accusing and borderline murderous.

Jenna waved one hand nonchalantly as she walked towards the main center desk, her other hand reaching to her belt to grab her pokéballs. "Aw, just a couple thousand volts from that jerk of a Raikou. He was already pretty weakened by Sandy. I've been hit before with worse than what she got – she'll live. It's hardly worth worrying your pretty little political head about. She'll still be useful to your campaign in a few days."

Though still outwardly calm as he blindly watched Jenna place her pokéballs in the care of one of the nurses, it was clear that he was fuming on the inside.

Cynthia, deciding to play the peacemaker, interceded before Mark could make any comment. "Let's get Eve to a hospital. Then we can talk in a place that's hopefully a little more private," she said in a low voice, looking around at the many people who were too intelligent to intrude on the conversation but too curious to even pretend to have their attention on anything else.

"Really… I think Jenna's right… I'll be fine," Eve said, apparently unaware of how disjointed her sentences were and how bad off they made her sound. "I just… need to rest. Could we maybe go back… to Jenna's and Cynthia's hotel room? It's at least bigger than… my room here."

Before Mark or Cynthia could voice their opinions on whether this was a good idea, Tim made an executive decision and teleported everyone to the hotel room in question.

_You're right, just so you know, _he said to Eve. _You're hurt, but it doesn't look like there should be any permanent damage. Just take it easy for a while._

Eve didn't need to be told twice. She stumbled over to one of the beds and laid herself on top of it, closing her eyes and doing her best to calm her trembling muscles. Basil lay down next to her, wishing that there was some way he could help her.

"So Jenna… What exactly were you two doing with Ho-Oh?" Cynthia asked as she sat down in a chair. Mark sat down on the other bed, though he stayed as tense as if he was ready for a battle.

Jenna remained standing. "We were just… Oh, wait, you don't know yet about everything, do you Cynthia? Eve, you don't mind if we let her know now, do you?"

"Go ahead," Eve replied, keeping her eyes closed.

So Jenna recounted the story in full, though with the notable exception of the main reason why she'd wanted to meet with Ho-Oh in the first place. She spent almost twice as long talking about the battle as she did everything else, dwelling specifically on her thought process and how her pokémon had stood up to Ho-Oh.

"Wow…" Cynthia said when the tale was finished. "I mean… I still can't approve of you going to face a strong, clearly hostile pokémon like that, but… You actually met Ho-Oh and spoke with him. And this legend that you're talking about is something that I've never even heard of, and that's saying something. A human with the spirit of a pokémon, trying to get the fragments of existence? I guess that's what you were doing with Lugia too, right?"

To spare Eve the trouble of talking more – she'd already been clearing up parts of the legend when Cynthia asked – Mark explained, "Yes, and I was the 'human' that went with her to Lugia. Lugia represents unity, so she wasn't nearly as cruel as Ho-Oh. Cynthia, have you really never heard of any of this? Nothing about life, death, unity, power, and purpose all being related?"

Cynthia shook her head. "Sorry. When those researchers cracked the unown script was the first time I'd heard of any legend like that."

Eve finally sat up, propping herself against a pillow. Though still weak, she had gained back enough strength to talk more or less normally. "But… Even if you'd never heard of the legend before, can you think of anything that relates to the other three? Any legends at all? I need to find those other three pokémon. Life, death, and purpose…"

"I still can't believe that you're doing this at all," Cynthia said. "Even if I could think of anything to help, I'm rather hesitant to tell you. What are you really planning on using the power for? The world may not be perfect, but it's still fine. I don't see how you could fix it without completely changing the nature of… something, be it humans or pokémon or the world itself."

"But there has to be something I can do. There's more wrong in the world than I think anyone realizes," Eve argued emphatically. "And I can't just sit around here for long. I have to find the next one."

Cynthia sighed. "It's not that I doubt your good intentions. It's just… I'm not sure if I trust anyone with that sort of power aside from Arceus himself."

"You're acting like a scared little oddish, Cynthia," Jenna said. "How boring would our world be if there was no change every now and then? I mean, look at it now: my battle with Galactic and Palkia was probably the last exciting thing that happened in the world. That was nearly a decade ago. No wars, no major world crises, no epidemics since then… And look where that's got us. All the major governments have become more and more isolationist, for fear that even friendly relations with another country would eventually go sour and bring war. People are crueler, too, with nothing to fight against to bring them together. And more and more governments are trying and failing to deal with corruption. I'd think that any change is better than the direction the world's going now."

"I didn't know you were so politically concerned, Jenna," Cynthia said.

Jenna shrugged. "Hardly. I just call stuff as I see it, and the stuff I've seen lately is getting worse and worse. So anyway, if you don't want to help out Eve, then I will. So Eve, what have Lugia and Ho-Oh both had in common?"

Eve thought for a couple of long moments. "Well, they both were summoned at towers," she replied, "but Lugia said that this may not be the case with the others. She thought that some might be more reclusive, so much so that they don't even have legends associated with them. They might not even have as much as Celebi's shrine, which is downright tiny."

"Alternately, they might be as flashy as Ho-Oh and Lugia are," Jenna said. "Still, as you said, we can't rely solely on that. But I've thought of a couple other similarities. First of all, they're both birdlike. I don't know how that'll help us, unless Cynthia can point us in the direction of other legends involving giant featherbrains. But the last thing's the most important: they both had three pokémon that had to be present in order to summon them. If it's like this with them, then what if the others have a similar mechanism for the summons?"

"You say that, but… I don't know," Eve said. "Both had only been using their trio for a hundred and fifty years or so. And Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno had been around for long before then without being technically associated with Lugia. How do we know-"

"But it's certainly a coincidence that they both chose to use three pokémon, right?" Jenna interrupted. "Don't get me wrong, it's not a sure-fire plan either. But it's one of the few that we've actually got a way to look into."

"We do?" Eve said. Mark and Cynthia, who were listening patiently to the conversation, looked just as skeptical.

Jenna grinned. "Sure. Don't you remember me telling you about Mespirit? She still comes out to see me occasionally when I go to her lake. She sometimes battles me, if she's in the mood. If you come with me back to Sinnoh for a while, we could see if she'd come out and talk to you. What do you say?"

"Wait just a minute," Mark said before Eve could respond. "Eve can't leave now, and neither can you. Not if we want the political campaign to be a success. I'm not sure if either you or Eve quite understands just how crucial Eve is to this effort. She was the one who started it, and her constant contact with legends has only further changed an otherwise minor political issue into a full-fledged topic of Johto morality and thought. Aside from that, the rising importance of the issue is creating a polarization of beliefs the likes of which Johto has never seen before. People on both sides of this issue are becoming more and more offensive towards the opposing view.

"The problem with Eve leaving is that she's the figurehead of our side of the movement, just like Brian as a member of Rocket Corporation is for his side. If you leave, Eve, then our side will lose all the energy it has gained from your meetings with legends. But the other side will still have Brian, and he'll use the support he's gained to change as much as possible in the political sphere. Johto government is corrupt enough as it is; allowing Rocket Corporation to have that much power might be enough to change the structure of our government entirely, with Rocket Corporation in complete control behind the scenes."

"But if I can get the powers, then none of that will matter," Eve said. "I'll change it all so that it's better than before."

"And what if you… What if you die in the process, before you can get the full power?" Mark said, hesitating in his speech ever so slightly as if it hurt him to even think of such a thing. "From Suicune's story, it sounds like at least one of the other three legends shares Ho-Oh's view of humans. And you won't have Jenna with you when you face it. Why even continue trying? To be completely honest, I don't think there's any way you can survive your search for the other three powers. It's a miracle that you got through two."

Eve clenched her fists; she knew he was right. "You don't understand… I already know that. I've already thought about it. I've come to the same conclusion. But I can't stop now. Not now that the two feathers are fueling my instinct." She fingered the pinions tangled in her hair. "Even with just Lugia's, the thought of seeing Ho-Oh was always at the back of my mind. And the instinct is even stronger now. I know I'm heading towards death… but there's no other path that I could force myself to take, even if it was a path of doing nothing and letting the world work out its own problems."

"But Eve, you-"

"Mark, I want to stay here. Really," Eve said, stopping him before he could say more. "What you said before makes sense. Brian said something to me after our battle that makes me think that Rocket really is about to do something, or at least that they'd like to. And-"

Now Mark was the one to interrupt her. "Wait, Brian said something? What was it, exactly?" He seemed more intrigued by this than he should've been; perhaps he knew something that Eve didn't.

"Well, he asked me if I believed in good and evil… And then he said that I should brace myself to see more of the evil. He doesn't seem to agree with all of Rocket's political tactics, so I guessed it has something to do with that."

Frowning and crossing his arms, Mark said, "This only further confirms my fears, then. The last month or so – ever since Rocket Corporation became a big player in the game of politics – I've been receiving some tip-offs from some friends who work for Rocket. They don't know much since they only hold minor positions in the company, but they say that there have been more and more people being hired by the corporation without filling definite positions. Rocket hasn't expanded much in recent years, so it's not like they need more employees. They've always hired some people under the radar so that they can keep up their illegal smuggling of rare and protected pokémon, but-"

Now it was Cynthia's turn to interrupt. "Wait, they still smuggle? I thought they went straight all those years ago, when Giovanni was defeated and the original Team Rocket disbanded."

A rueful smile tugged at the corners of Mark's mouth. "That's wishful thinking, isn't it? A just, upright corporation being built on the ashes of an organization that specialized in illegal activity? That's hardly the case. They've been bribing our government for years to keep things under wraps, and other governments are probably in on it as well. Kanto definitely, and I'm fairly sure they've got at least some hold in Hoenn and Sinnoh. My point is, we can't let them get ahead in this campaign. They're just as corrupt as before, and letting them come into power would make our already failing government even worse."

"But Lance wouldn't let that happen, would he?" Cynthia said. "I've talked with him on multiple occasions. He always seemed rather intent on purging the corruption from the legislative branch… He was simply frustrated with the fact that there was nothing he could do to directly change the flaws in the laws."

"I couldn't say what he will or won't do. He hasn't been very active in politics lately. Those members of the Den of Dragons cult… I'm never sure what to think of them. They rarely condescend to speak with people like me, even though I'm fairly sure that Lance and I working together could do wonders for the political system here," Mark said. "I guess he's okay talking with you, since you've trained a dragon-type pokémon all the way to its second stage. But anyone else is too far below them for them to even look at."

"You guys are getting off topic," Jenna said in a sing-song voice, as if all this talk of Rocket Corporation was just childish chatter. "So Eve, what do you say? You gonna come with me, or stay here and try to fight the evils Rocket Corporation?"

Eve was silent for a few moments yet again, silently wishing to herself that her instinct would just listen to what made the most sense. Sadly for her, instinct is not something that the mind can control. "If there's a chance that Mespirit might know something, then I have to go to Sinnoh. Mark, you can tell the public that the battle with Ho-Oh was a test – that's what Jenna already told them. And you can tell them that I passed the test, but that I really need to recuperate and take a short break from campaigning because of how hard it was on me. Anyone who saw me since the battle would believe it. And I'd only be gone for a couple days, probably – even if Mespirit can direct me towards another of the powers, I'll still have to find someone to represent it. Life, death, and purpose… I have some ideas of people I know for all three, but none of them are very good."

"I don't suppose I can convince you any other way, can I?" Mark asked.

Eve shook her head.

"All right, then! We'll head out tomorrow!" Jenna said. "I'll go buy tickets now! Cynthia, you gonna come back with us?"

She looked back to Mark before responding, "No, I don't think so. Even though I'm the Sinnoh Champion, I think it's within my duty to try to keep other regions from falling out of stability. I'll stay and do my best to keep the cause strong. Besides, if Rocket Corporation really has an illegal branch in Sinnoh, then it is definitely my duty to find out more about it. Just take it easy, won't you? Your husband will hate me if you die because I'm not there to keep you out of trouble."

"Like Eve said, it'll only be for a few days, right?" Jenna said, though with a cadence to her voice that made everyone in the room think that she meant exactly the opposite. "We'll be there and back in no time. Anyway, I'm going to go buy those tickets… I'd suggest you all get campaigning so the public isn't too curious when you leave tomorrow, Eve."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When Eve arrived at the pokémon center later that evening, she was exhausted. Even though the several rallies that they'd held today had been completely impromptu, thousands of people had shown up, all excited about the fact that Ho-Oh had visited the city. Unlike with Lugia, people actually had photographs (albeit distant ones) this time, further building the hype.

Brian, of course, was doing his best to counteract this. He said that either Eve had upset Ho-Oh enough to cause him to try to hurt her (as was shown by her current physical condition) or she was plotting with him to try to bring pokémon back to their former dominance on the earth, since she obviously sympathized more with them than she did with her fellow humans. His remarks got his supporters even more riled up than they once had been. Eve was beginning to really see to what extent Mark was right about the polarization of politics in Johto, and to be honest, she didn't like what she saw. It seemed as if hatred was breeding on both sides, and she felt that nothing good could come out of that.

She was just opening the door to her room when someone coming down the hallway called out her name. She turned to see Katsu running up to her.

"I'm so glad to see that you really are okay after everything that happened today…" Katsu said. "And I'm glad you're okay, too, Basil," he added when he saw the little electric-type on Eve's shoulder. "I didn't see anything of what happened, though. I was training for my battle with Morty. I've been trying for a while, but I haven't yet been able to beat him. But that hardly matters. So I was wondering…" He trailed off, then said, "On second thought, forget it. You've probably had enough questions for one day. I'll quit bothering you. I heard you're off to Sinnoh tomorrow. Hope your travel goes well. See you later."

Eve was so out of it that Katsu had already walked some feet away by the time she said, "Oh, wait a minute. I need to talk to you about something, actually… Would you mind coming into my room for a bit to talk, though? I need to sit down."

"Oh? Sure, I don't mind," Katsu said as he turned back around and followed her into the small room.

Eve grabbed the aerodactyl egg off of the spot on the bed where she'd left it before going to face Ho-Oh, then sat down again with it on her lap. "I was just wondering… You haven't seen Hope at all, have you?" she said. Even with everything else on her mind, she hadn't quite been able to get the thought of Hope's disappearance out of her head.

Katsu's expression darkened slightly. "You're still worrying about her? Don't you think she just changed her mind and went off to do something else? Maybe she decided it would be better to battle a different gym leader for her eighth badge."

"But that doesn't quite make sense," Eve said. "Sure, I don't doubt that she'd go off somewhere without telling us. But all of her pokémon were quite heavily injured, and she never went to the pokémon center in Mahogany Town or here. And if she'd decided to beat Morty, I don't think she would've changed her mind. I can't help but worry that something happened to her…"

"Eve… If you haven't noticed, I kind of hate Hope," Katsu replied, though he wasn't trying to sound cruel. "Especially since… You know, the thing at the Lake of Rage. Before then, I'd never really seen death quite like that. It was horrible. It made me appreciate my own faith more, and the more I've thought about it since then, the more devoted I've become to the beliefs of the Order of Life. Maybe you've noticed."

Eve rubbed her egg thoughtfully. "Yes, I have. Basil, you've noticed too, right?"

Basil sparked happily. ~Yeah. He never used to pay any attention to me. Now he even says hi to me when he greets you. Tell him I say hi, too, and that for once, I actually wish I could talk to him directly just to talk.~

Eve knew that he was just trying to be nice with this last comment, but she nonetheless translated what he said. The she added, "I'm really glad to see that you've changed, by the way. Even if pokémon don't mind battling, it's still not right to just treat their suffering as nothing… You've come to that conclusion too, right?"

"Yeah, I have," Katsu said. "It's still kind of hard to get used to, but… I'm finding stuff that bothers me that I never cared about before. Trainers who train their pokémon half to death, or who battle without thought to their pokémon's overall health… I can't stand them anymore, even though I was partly like that when you and I first met." He paused as if deep in thought, then continued, "Anyway, my point is, this is why I can hardly stand the thought of Hope any more. She doesn't care in the least for any sort of life, and…" He clenched his fists and slammed one of them against the small desk that sat next to him, as if that was sufficient to express the rest of his sentence.

It took him a few seconds to gain control of his thoughts again. "That's why I can't stand her any more. I have never seen a single person act as callously towards life as she does. I have no doubt that she would kill someone if it was convenient to her in some way, and I also don't doubt that she'd kill herself if she saw any reason to do so. She's sick in the mind. I'll admit, I have some pity for her as well… Anyone who lives like that can't possibly be happy. But in the end, it's her own fault, so I refuse to worry about her even if she is missing."

"Oh," Eve said. "I'm sorry for even bringing it up, then. But if you do see her, could you at least let me know?"

"Sure. I may not like her, but that's not a problem," he replied.

A minute or two passed in awkward silence, neither knowing quite what to say. Eve felt like she had a million different worries going through her mind at once, yet she wasn't about to throw them all on Katsu's shoulders. Especially since he didn't know much more than the general public about the situation with Lugia and Ho-Oh.

Katsu, for his part, still had a question for Eve, yet he wasn't sure how to go about asking it. Eventually he couldn't hold it in any longer, and it was for this reason that he broke the silence.

"Hey, Eve? Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"I won't know if I mind until you ask," Eve responded. "Go ahead. It probably can't hurt. Is it about Lugia and Ho-Oh?"

Katsu looked off to the side of the room, not meeting Eve's eyes. "Not really. I mean, I'm curious about it, but if there's more to it that you haven't been saying, then you probably have a reason not to say it. My question – this is probably going to sound really selfish or stupid or something, so I'm sorry in advance if it is, but – I was just wondering if maybe you could try evolving my pokémon. That is, if they want to evolve. I think they do. I mean, to be honest, I want to be a stronger trainer, and I think that my pokémon – totodile and snivy, at least – want to reach that goal of strength as well. But if you don't want to, and I'm just being rude, then just tell me and I'll never-"

"No, it's fine," Eve said mildly, gently placing the egg on the bed and out of the way. "Your pokémon have worked hard, and Totodile has always been really nice to me. I'd be happy to try at least, though I haven't done it much on purpose yet. Why don't you let them out?"

Katsu did as she suggested, letting out only his snivy and totodile at first due to the smallness of the room. "Now guys, Eve's willing to help you try to evolve, but I only want you to go through with it if you really want to. Okay? So just tell Eve whatever way it is that you want."

Both pokémon looked up at Eve hopefully. ~Can you really do that?~ Totodile asked. ~I'd love to evolve. Katsu has been wanting it for so long. But you know, it's not just him. I've always wanted to evolve. I don't know many pokémon who don't dream about it.~

~I'd like it very much, as well,~ Snivy said coolly. ~It certainly is frustrating to have trained so much over the past four years and still not been able to evolve. We're both strong enough… I can't think of any reason why we haven't evolved yet.~

"All right, then, if you're sure. Totodile, you're up first," Eve said, crouching down and laying her hand on Totodile's head. Almost immediately, his body began to glow; Eve sat back down on her bed to make room as the little water-type grew almost two feet in height, crowding the room. When the glowing went away, a very familiar pokémon stood in Totodile's place. After all, Eve had just battled Brian a couple days ago, and a croconaw had been the first pokémon that he had used.

~Thank you so much, Eve!~ Croconaw said, looking in wonder at his new, much more powerful body.

"That's awesome," Katsu said at the same time, trying to keep his voice down despite his obvious excitement. "You're a croconaw now – it'll feel weird not calling you totodile anymore. For now, you mind going back in your pokéball? It's a bit crowded in here right now, and we'll go to the park right after this if you want."

~Please tell him that's fine with me, Eve. And thank you again!~ Croconaw said; Eve related the message, and he was returned to his pokéball.

~And me?~ asked Snivy, obviously anxious to evolve as well.

Without saying a word, Eve laid her hand on the snivy's forehead; like Totodile, he began to glow. His body lengthened somewhat while his arms and legs became smaller and less definite, and broad leaves sprouted along his back.

When the changes were finished, he completely ignored his legs for a moment and instead curled into a tight coil, as if experimenting with this new way of moving. Then – without bothering to thank Eve – he uncoiled himself and tapped his nose against the pokéball in Katsu's hand, returning himself to it.

Eve smiled slightly; she got the feeling that the newly-evolved janovy was too proud to give anyone but himself credit for his evolution.

Katsu looked at Eve, obviously amazed; even trainers didn't get to see evolutions happen very often. "That's great, Eve. Thank you so much."

"Not a problem," she said. "It's not like I have to do much. Did you want me to try with Paras and Slowpoke as well?"

"Well, sure, if it's not too much trouble," Katsu said.

He let out his slowpoke first. Slowpoke, though content enough with being a trainer's pokémon, didn't particularly like the idea of evolving. He said that he was happy the way that he was, and he wasn't even sure if it would be possible for him to evolve without a shellder around, anyway. Eve translated, so Katsu returned Slowpoke without an attempt being made.

Paras, on the other hand, desperately wanted to evolve. He could hardly keep still when Katsu told him what was going on. Yet when Eve tried, nothing happened.

"I'm sorry, Paras. I think you're going to have to train more before I can help," Eve said when she stepped back. "I guess I can't just automatically evolve any pokémon. Of course, all my pokémon would be fully evolved by now if that were the case."

~Aw…~ Paras said just before Katsu withdrew him to his pokéball.

"We'll just have to train a bit harder, then, I guess," Katsu said. "Anyway, thanks again, Eve. I'll quit bothering you now. Oh, and I do promise I'll keep an eye out for Hope. By the way, do you know if she ever battled Faulkner?"

Eve frowned. "I don't recall. She might have mentioned it once, but it's been a while now."

"Well, how about this. I'm planning on heading back to Violet for a few days. There's a big pilgrimage that happens this time of year, and for the first time in years, I think I can actually go and have it truly mean something to me. While I'm there, I'll ask Faulkner if maybe he's been challenged by Hope – she's recognizable enough that he'd certainly remember her if she did. I'm still convinced that she just figured that it'd be easier to get a badge from someone who isn't a ghost-type trainer. So yeah, yet again, good luck with your trip to Sinnoh."

"Thanks. You have fun at your pilgrimage, too," Eve said.

As he closed the door, Basil sparked good-naturedly. ~He really has changed, hasn't he?~

Eve sighed. "We both have, I think. You know, despite all the evolutions and stuff, I'd swear that pokémon change less than anyone. I mean, you're still the same as the pichu I met all those years ago."

Basil curled up contentedly at the foot of the bed; he was just as tired as Eve was. ~I'll take that as a compliment.~

* * *

Another miracle (a.k.a. SNOW DAY) happened, so I had time to write this chapter! ^_^ What luck! I'm really doubtful about next week, though... I just started playing Kingdom Hearts II, and it looks like I might become engrossed enough not to stop. With that in mind, I now have a "Story Progress" section on my profile, so if there are any of you who are really curious, you can check there to see how far along I am and if I think I'll get it done in time. And remember: if I don't have it done by next Thursday, then I'll probably just skip it entirely for that week.

Anyway... I can't think of much else to say, except for a big thank you to everyone who's reading! If the story traffic page is reliable at all, then I've had about fifty people read up to the last chapter... Admittedly, I doubt that's too much for a pokemon fanfic, but it still makes me happy that other people enjoy it enough to read on.


	31. The Nature of the Soul

**Chapter Thirty-One: The Nature of the Soul**

"Yo! Mespirit! You here today? I've got a friend who'd like to talk with you!" Jenna shouted towards the center of the lake, where a cave on a small island stood.

Eve frowned and rubbed her aerodactyl egg thoughtfully. "You sure a legendary pokémon like Mespirit will just come out to meet a strange person like me?"

"You're a pokémon, not a person. Remember?" Jenna said. "At least, that's what you told me. Anyway… MESPIRIT! Get your little fairy butt out here!"

Eve looked over to her pokémon, all of whom were out of their pokéballs and looking curiously at the cave; none of them seemed to believe that Mespirit would come out. Eve would normally have kept them in their pokéballs for this; but it was such a nice day since it was summer in Sinnoh, and Jenna had assured her that having pokémon around never concerned Mespirit.

Suddenly, Eve heard a voice call from somewhere across the lake. ~Sheesh, calm down already Jenna. I'm coming!~ Despite the annoyed words, they were said in such a playful manner that Eve could hardly take whoever the pokémon was seriously.

~She's coming,~ Pebble said as he enjoyed a swim in the clear waters of the lake. ~I can sense her.~

And, sure enough, Eve could just barely make out a small shape emerging from the entrance of the cave. As it floated quickly and smoothly across the surface of the lake towards Eve and Jenna, Eve was slowly able to pick out more details: the four pink protrusions that hung around her head; the large arms and small legs; the two tails that flowed behind her like streamers in the wind; and, of course, the three ruby-like crystals positioned on her body, one each in her forehead and two tails.

Even more noticeable than her appearance was her attitude. She seemed to radiate a carefree and joyous demeanor. Perhaps it was something in the way she skimmed across the water, or maybe Eve had simply received that impression from the tone of her earlier comment. Either way, this happiness seemed almost to be an inherent part of who she was.

~Now, you've never brought any of your friends to see me before, Jenna,~ the sprite said playfully as she circled quickly around Jenna a couple times in greeting. Jenna had no idea what was being said, of course, but Mespirit didn't expect her to understand. ~So what do we have here? A Not-Human, if I'm not mistaken? Been a _long _time since I've seen one of you in Sinnoh.~ She zoomed around Eve as she said this. ~Well, doesn't matter how long it's been, I suppose. Glad to meet you! And what would your name be?~

Eve smiled and did her best to hold back a laugh as the tips of Mespirit's tails brushed against her side, tickling her. "I'm Eve. Nice to meet you, too. You'reMespirit, right?"

~Of course I am! Who else would I be?~ Mespirit replied, still as happy as ever. ~Now to what may I owe the pleasure of this visit? Does Jenna want to battle again?~

"Probably," Eve admitted, "but that's not the main reason why we're here."

Suddenly, Jenna reached out and grabbed both of Mespirit's tails in her hand, stopping the fairy-like pokémon halfway through a playful aerial spin. "Cut it out, won't you! You're going to make me sick just watching you float around in every which way. You do this every time!"

Mespirit giggled and let herself go limp so that she was hanging by her tails from Jenna's hand. ~My dear Eve, would you please tell Jenna that I enjoy nothing more than seeing how much I can irritate her. It's really quite amusing.~

Eve translated and Jenna promptly loosened her grip on Mespirit's tails in response, letting them slide through her hand so that the legend fell to the ground head-first. "Stupid pixie," Jenna grumbled. "Always much too cheery for you own good. Go take some lessons from an absol or something."

~Hey! That wasn't very nice, Jenna!~ Mespirit said as she floated back up to eye-level, rubbing her head. ~I'll be cheery if I want to, thank you very much.~

Basil jumped up from the ground and onto Eve's shoulder. ~I feel like we're getting a little off-topic. We flew all the way from Johto for a reason, didn't we, Eve?~

"Oh, yeah. I suppose that's right," Eve said, still smiling at the antics of Jenna and Mespirit. Despite their somewhat harsh words, it was obvious that the two joked around with each other like this all the time. "Mespirit, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the 'five fragments of existence', or something like that? Or, more specifically, do you help to guard one of them?"

~Hmm…~ Mespirit said. ~I suppose I know a little bit about it, but I'm certainly not helping to guard one of them. Whatever gave you that idea?~

Eve was slightly disappointed, but she did her best not to show it. "Well, I've already found two of the five powers," she said as she gestured to the two feathers in her hair, "but I don't know where to find the next three. But the last two guardians had a trio of pokémon helping them, so we guessed that maybe-"

~My sisters and I might happen to be one of those trios?~ Mespirit finished. ~Sorry to disappoint you, but no. We have our own job to do. Trust me, it's a big enough job being the guardians of the spirits of pokémon.~

Eve scowled. "The spirits of pokémon? I'd always heard that you were the guardians of human souls. Isn't that how the legend goes, Jenna?"

"Huh? Are you talking about Mespirt, Azelf, and Uxie?" Jenna said; it looked like she'd been zoning out for a little bit, perhaps uninterested in a conversation that she could only hear half of. "Yeah, it's something like that. Mespirit has emotion, Azelf has willpower, and Uxie has knowledge. Those three things are supposed to be the components of the human soul."

Mespirit zoomed past Jenna's head, playfully hitting her in the face with the tips of her two tails. The pokémon ignored Jenna's irritated remarks as she said, ~Silly humans. Always putting themselves at the center of legends. Of course, if they looked at the differences between themselves and us pokémon at all, it'd be obvious. Tell me, Eve – do you know what those differences are?~

She hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure, but… Well, pokémon seem to act based more on their feelings, but humans normally plan ahead more. Then again, humans obviously act on their feelings, too, and pokémon are able to plan ahead. So I don't know."

~Don't second-guess yourself! You had it more or less right the first time,~ Mespirit said, twirling in the air above Eve's head. ~When Mew laid the eggs that hatched into all pokémon, she gave to all of us part of her own power. When we hatched from our egg – that is to say, me and my sisters, since we all shared one egg – we were given the duty of guarding that power.~

"And what is that power, exactly?" Eve asked. "And I know you said I had it more or less right, but what really is the difference between humans and pokémon?"

Basil sparked to get Eve's attention. ~Eve, you're not still worried about the whole not-human thing, are you? It really doesn't change who you are.~

~That's exactly what I said,~ Pebble chimed as he emerged from a small wave.

"It's not so much that I'm worried about it that much anymore. There's stuff that I need to worry about more than that. But I guess I'm just curious."

Mespirit twirled through the air again, just as cheerful as ever. ~That's the spirit! Curiosity is always a good thing. Anyway, so let's see… Oh, yeah, the power of pokémon! You should know it well enough; you have it just as much as any pokémon. You just naturally express it in different ways, and so it may not seem like the same thing. Anyway, it's this power of pokémon – their 'spirit' or 'form' – that has the three parts that my sisters and I must protect. Mine is emotion, which is self-explanatory enough. As you said, it's sort of the motivation behind the actions of pokémon.

~Then Uxie… She's not so much knowledge as she is common sense and instinct. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's admittedly really smart. But her intelligence comes from seeing the world in the most obvious ways that ought to make sense to everyone. Of course, humans distort the meaning of common sense things so much that they couldn't even begin to understand how that works.

~And Azelf is willpower, of course, though it's sort of different from how humans see it. For pokémon, it's more like just a momentary impulse or whim to do something, but it's strong enough that this is primarily how pokémon can battle and use attacks. That all make enough sense to you?~

Eve nodded. "I think so. But humans have some common sense too, and they do stuff on whims as well. And they obviously have emotion."

~But that's not what defines a human soul,~ Mespirit answered. ~I mean, they've sort of gained those qualities after being around pokémon for thousands of years. They just sorta leaked over, but on a much smaller scale. Like you were saying earlier, humans plan ahead. More than that, they can come up with previously unconceived ideas and make them into reality. That's why it's hard for a wild pokémon to battle one that's following a human's commands: the human can come up with ways to fight that a pokémon can't think up on its own. Yet again, there has been some leaking of this essence into pokémon… but for the most part, that's the difference. Humans base themselves around their ability to plan ahead and create new ideas, while pokémon are rooted in things like emotion.~

Pebble swam up to shore and asked, ~Why tell all that to Eve?~

Mespirit floated over to the dragon and hung upside-down just in front of him. ~Why not tell her? She asked, after all. And it's not exactly a secret. You guys knew it already, and so did Eve; but most pokémon don't really have the ability to form it into a solid concept. Humans could, if their intellect didn't get in the way of that instinctual knowledge.~

Aiden, who had been lying down and enjoying the heat of the sun, spoke up. ~So what about the five fragments of existence, Eve? Did you still want to know about those?~

"Yes," Eve replied, then turned back to Mespirit. "You said you know a little about them. Could you tell me what you know?"

~As I said before, I don't know much. It's not really my area of expertise. All I know is that Arceus chose the five strongest of Mew's sons and daughters, and gave them each one of the keys necessary to unlock him from where he hides himself away.~

Pebble looked up at Mespirit curiously. ~But why lock himself away in the first place? And if he gave his power to Mew's sons and daughters… Well, the way you say it, does that mean he's not descended from Mew? In other words, not a pokémon?~

Mespirit shook her head. ~That I don't know. He locked himself away because, unlike Mew, he didn't divide up his power into other things, and he didn't want to harm the world. At the very least, that's what Mew always hints at when I've asked her about it. But she'll never be specific as to what exactly happened at the beginning of time; Arceus could have created Mew, or maybe Arceus is another of Mew's children. Who knows?~

"So Mew still exists?" Eve asked.

Mespirit giggled. ~Of course she does. She's an absolute dear, even if she's rather enigmatic half the time. It's probably been a good couple hundred years since I saw her last. She always pops up at the most random times, or so it seems.~

"Are you guys done talking yet?" Jenna said. "I'm getting majorly bored."

Mespirit flew over and plopped herself on top of Jenna's head. ~We'll be done when we're done. I'm rather enjoying talking with someone who can actually understand what I say, as opposed to you. For all your instinct, you still can't understand pokémon speech.~ She sighed. ~Anyway, Eve, what were we talking about? Or was there something else you wanted to ask?~

Eve explained to Jenna that they weren't quite done, then turned back to Mespirit. "I was actually wondering something else. But it's sort of unrelated. Do you mind?"

~Go right ahead,~ Mespirit said.

Eve waited for a moment to begin her question, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. "So what would happen if a human was born who didn't have that small amount of knowledge, willpower, and emotion? You know, hypothetically speaking."

Mespirit looked at Eve intently. ~I suppose the person would be like how humans used to be: uncaring to an extent, but always eager to discover or create something new. Now, just so we're clear on things, this really isn't hypothetical, is it?~

Eve shook her head. "No, not really. I have a friend who's sort of… different. She can't be sad or happy or anything. But she doesn't really fit your description. All she cares about is battling. It just seems like such a depressing way to live. I'd like to help her, if I could."

~Well, why don't we just figure out what the problem is right here and now, then? Just grab onto the crystals of my tails and close your eyes. It shouldn't be too hard to get to the bottom of this,~ Mespirit said, putting her tails within Eve's reach.

Eve wasn't exactly sure what Mespirit was suggesting, so she looked over to her pokémon for guidance. But none of them seemed in the least concerned. Basil even jumped down from her shoulder, giving her an encouraging spark as she did so; apparently he wasn't concerned enough to even be with her when whatever it was happened. So with a little more confidence, she grabbed the crystals in her hand and closed her eyes.

Immediately, Eve felt as if she were somewhere else entirely. Instead of closing her eyes, it was almost as if they had opened to an entirely new world. True, darkness made up most of what surrounded her, yet floating within the darkness were what seemed like millions upon millions of lights, stretching out in all direction. Next to her was a foggy yet almost luminous version of Mespirit, whose tails were still in Eve's hand; and when she looked at her hand, she realized that she was made of the same shimmering haze that Mespirit appeared to be composed of. She looked at her body, too, and realized that the egg had been brought along, and it was composed of a similar (albeit much dimmer) substance.

_Make sure you don't let go of my tail, _Mespirit said, speaking with something that was almost and yet not quite like telepathy. _Now, just think of the person you want me to take a look at. But make sure to think of her with your heart, not with your mind. It shouldn't be a problem, since you're more pokémon than human. _

Almost as the thought of Hope crossed Eve's mind, one of the innumerable lights appeared right in front of Mespirit.

_Here she is… Now, this is interesting… You say the only thing she shows interest in is battling, correct? Just think your answer with your heart._

_Yes, _Eve thought to herself, hoping that she was answering with her heart and not her brain or whatever. She didn't quite understand what was happening.

_I see… Azelf! Uxie! Would you two mind coming here for a moment? I need a second opinion._

Just as suddenly as the light had appeared, two more glowing fog-pokémon appeared. Both looked very similar to Mespirit, with the only difference being their heads. One had a yellow, almost helmet-like structure on her head; the other had a blue covering that had a point at the back and also came down next to either side of the pokémon's face.

_What is this, Mespirit? _The one with the yellow head asked. _A human soul? But it's quite unique… Most souls with such an imbalance of our gifts can't endure life for long. _

_I know what you mean, Uxie,_ said the blue-headed one, who Eve guessed had to be Azelf. _Yet the more I look at it, the more it makes sense. Mespirit, is your gift present at all? _

Mespirit moved forward a little bit, bringing Eve with her. _I can't say for sure. It doesn't make sense for it to be nonexistent… That's next to impossible. But if it is there, it's so small to begin with or it has withdrawn so much that it's practically not there. _

_And my gift is very strong in her soul, _Azelf said, _and Uxie's gift is also quite powerful. It seems that the combined force of these two has managed to overcome the gap in emotion._

_I concur with that logic, _Uxie said. _Certainly, a unique case. If I may ask, why are we bothering ourselves with it? Is it perhaps because of your guest?_ Uxie turned towards Eve, though to Eve's surprise, she saw that the sprite's eyes were shut tight.

Mespirit's body seemed to glow more brightly, as if she was amused or happy. _Yes, the human we are looking at is a friend of Eve, who Jenna introduced me to. I'm not sure if you can tell in this place, but she's actually a not-human._

_Of course we can tell! _Azelf said indignantly. Then, in a slightly calmer voice, she added, _Nice to meet you, Eve. But why do you have a friend like this in the first place? I can hardly imagine her being a very nice person. _

_I guess I can't help it, _Eve said. _I just want to be friends with her. I feel that maybe I could get her to enjoy life more than she does now. She just seems so empty right now._

Uxie floated closer to Eve. _It appears that you have your job cut out for you, then. If she does have any emotion, then it will be hard to get it to show itself, to say the least. But there is a chance._

_Well, anyway, we'll be off! _Mespirit said. _It's kind of tiring for me to keep someone other than myself in this realm. See you two later!_

Azelf and Uxie were just saying their goodbyes when Eve suddenly found herself opening her eyes, back on the solid ground of the lakeside. She let go of Mespirit's tail as soon as she realized she still had a hold of it, and the pixie-like pokémon sank down to the ground, looking exhausted.

~Well, that took more out of me than I was expecting,~ Mespirit said. ~But at least you know about your friend now! I think you should just keep on trying to be friends with her; if she does have that little bit of emotion, it's bound to show itself eventually! Anyway, I'm afraid you'll have to tell Jenna that I'm a bit too tired for a battle today, though she's welcome to come back another time. For now, I think I'm heading to sleep.~

Mespirit wearily floated off the ground and began heading back to her cave. But Eve had one more thing she needed to say. "One moment, please! Do you have any idea where the Great Ones representing life, death, or purpose might be? Any ideas at all?"

Mespirit paused momentarily and turned around. ~Not really. Giratina is the only one who I can think of, but even then I doubt it. He's more on a level with Palkia and Dialga, both of whom aren't the sort of pokémon you're looking for. The only reason I think of him in the first place is because he's rumored to show himself near graveyards. I've never met him, so I couldn't exactly say for sure.~

Eve was disappointed yet again, but she'd also learned a lot. "That's all right. Thank you so much, Mespirit!"

~Yep, not a problem,~ she said as she turned back towards her cave. But then she turned back around again with a new burst of energy and flew back to Eve. ~There was one more thing that I wanted to do! I can't believe I almost forgot! Here!~

She touched her tails to the shell of the large egg that hung from Eve's stomach. Her crystals flashed for a moment, and then Eve heard scratching sounds coming from the egg.

~Have fun!~ Mespirit shouted as she zoomed back to her cave, giggling as she did so; however tired she had been before, she seemed fine now.

Eve looked down at the egg, then back to the quickly receding figure of Mespirit. "Wait! What did you do?" Eve said, almost panicking. The egg hadn't shown even the slightest bit of light since Eve had started taking care of it.

"It's hatching. What did you think she did?" Jenna said. "Can't you hear the noises? The chick is trying to get out. I suggest you set it down on the ground, or at least sit down and put it in your lap. It'll make things easier for it."

Still feeling slightly panicky, Eve sat down on the ground, undid the sling, then laid the egg on the ground in front of her. Aiden, Basil, Pebble, and Hannah all crowded around, anxious to see the chick as soon as it came into the world.

They didn't need to wait long. Thin cracks soon appeared on the egg, and these lines grew larger and darker as the sounds from within the egg became louder and more definite. Finally, a large part of the top shell was pushed completely off, and a small head poked out and let out a squeaky cheep.

Or, rather, the head seemed small in comparison to the other aerodactyl that Eve had seen. As it – or, more accurately, she – pushed away the rest of the shell to reveal the rest of her body, Eve saw that the chick was probably three or four feet long from nose to tip of the tail, which was huge compared to most other newly-hatched pokémon.

~I'm hungry!~ the chick said as she stretched her neck and looked at the pokémon and humans around her. Then – before anyone exactly knew what was happening – she opened her mouth and bit down on Eve's arm, which was easily within her reach.

Eve gasped in pain, and three of Eve's pokémon suddenly tensed, wanting to battle yet knowing that they couldn't just attack a newly-hatched pokémon.

Pebble – the one who hadn't tensed – slithered right up to the aerodactyl and gave her a solid-sounding whack on the snout with his tail. The aerodactyl promptly let go, giving out a little sad cheep at her pain.

~She's not food,~ Pebble said sternly. ~Humans in general aren't food. If you eat them, then the rest of them won't be happy, and you'll get in big trouble. Understand?~

The aerodactyl let out a pitiful sound. ~Alright,~ she said. ~But I'm still hungry!~

~First say you're sorry to Eve. Then she might get you some food. She's the one who's been looking after your egg this entire time, as you ought to know already,~ Pebble replied. When he became such a good parent, Eve had no idea. Then again, he was eighty years old already. He'd probably seen plenty of pokémon parents raise their children at the Lake of Rage.

The aerodactyl turned to Eve. ~Sorry, Eve. Now can I have some food?~

Eve ignored her bleeding arm temporarily; thankfully, the aerodactyl's sharp teeth were still very little. "Do you like berries? If not, I've got some dried meats in my bag, I think."

~Both!~ the aerodactyl said. ~I'm really hungry!~

"No, dried meats won't do," Jenna said as she took it upon herself to rummage through Eve's bag, pulling out some pokémon food and berries that she kept in there. "If you want this chick to grow normally, it's going to need a lot of energy. And that comes from fresh meat. Can your arcanine hunt at all, or should I get one of my pokémon to do it?" she tossed the berries and stuff over to Eve as she said this, and Eve in turn placed the foods in front of the ravenous chick.

Aiden gave a little growl of affirmation. ~I can do it. You don't mind, do you, Eve? I know you've been trying to keep to just berries and apricorns and stuff, but-~

"No, it's fine," Eve said as she took the bandaging that Jenna had just thrown over. "It can't be helped, I guess. That's just how life works. No need to go overboard until we know how much she'll eat, though."

The arcanine dashed off; the trees around the lake were thankfully spaced out enough that the large fire-type would have no troubles hunting.

"So what are you going to name it?" Jenna asked as she crouched down next to Eve, who was finishing wrapping up her arm.

"Her, not it," Eve replied. "And I'm not going to name her. I'm just going to take care of her until she's old enough to take care of herself, and then I'm going to let her be free. Her mother and father died because they wanted that, after all." The chick was too engrossed in her meal to listen to what Eve was saying.

Jenna looked at Eve disbelievingly. "And you think it'll be that simple? First of all, that aerodactyl there is going to take a while to grow, unlike most other pokémon who can practically be self-dependent upon hatching. Based on how big they get, my guess would be that it will take a month, and that's only if you don't put her in a pokéball at all and slow her growth. And do you think she'll be content with just leaving you after you raise her? Let's face it: pokémon bond with humans, whether pokéballs are involved or not. It's as simple as that. And even if she _did _leave, then how long do you think she'll go unnoticed? Most people don't want aerodactyl flying around."

Watching the aerodactyl snarf down her last berry, Eve said, "You have a point. Still, I'll hope that she'll want to leave on her own, and that I can teach her to stay out of trouble."

~Any more food?~ the aerodactyl asked.

Pebble, taking up the parenting role again, replied, ~Not yet. Aiden will be back with some food soon, I bet. Just wait until then.~

"So what are you going to do while you wait for her to grow?" Jenna continued as Eve's pokémon began talking to the chick, trying to keep her young mind occupied. "Are you going to try to keep campaigning while raising this little monster?"

~Monster?~ the aerodactyl asked, catching this last sentence. ~Why am I a monster?~ As if to emphasize exactly the opposite, she hopped clumsily over to Eve and curled herself up in her lap. She didn't seem offended by the comment, necessarily; she was simply curious as to why anyone would call her that.

"Just ignore Jenna," Eve said, tentatively stroking the chick along her spine; a small humming noise came from her chest in response. "She's more of a monster than you are, I'm sure."

Jenna smiled. "Got that right. But anyway, answer my question: what are you going to do?"

Eve sighed, and a scowl came to her face. The truth was, there wasn't much she _could _do. Raising an aerodactyl under the public spotlight would cause scandal, especially if the scientists she had originally been supposed to help guessed how she had found the egg. Up until now, the public believed the egg to be something that she had happened to find with the help of her pokémon; though it appeared unique, no one had thought much of it.

Before Eve could come up with a good response to Jenna's question, Jenna continued, "You know what? I'm not letting you decide. Here's what we're going to do. You and me are going to stay out her in the wilds of Sinnoh for a while. My cell phone can't even get reception out here, so we won't be bothered by anyone in the media, that's for sure. Besides, I was planning on this even before your egg hatched. I mean, let me be honest: aside from your evolved pokémon, you're weak. And you need to get stronger if you want those other three powers. I think that with a little bit of help, you'll at least stand a chance. So you can train, your aerodactyl can grow, and in another month, you can decide what to do next. Deal?"

"But Mark-"

"Forget Mark!" Jenna said. "Mark's a selfish jerk who can't wipe the film out of his eyes enough to see that there's more to life than campaigning. As I've said before, the world's going downhill. Campaigning with Mark is like a caterpie trying to stop a golem from rolling down that hill; it just ain't gonna work. So even if you were successful in your campaign, it would mean little in the ultimate scheme of things. This five powers thing is a completely different matter. You get those five powers, and you can do so much for the world. What exactly that is, we won't know until you actually do it. Anyway, my point is, I want to help you get stronger so that you have a decent chance at it. And I've already made my mind up about it, so don't even try to convince me otherwise. In fact…"

"In fact what?" Eve asked quietly when Jenna trailed off. The aerodactyl had already fallen asleep, and she didn't want to wake her back up.

Jenna grinned. "Well, I called Mark before we even got here and before we dropped out of cell range. And I told him that I would be keeping you here for a while to train. Man, was he pissed. But he also knows he has no chance of convincing me otherwise, which only made him angrier."

"But Jenna, I promised him I'd get right back!" Eve said, in a more urgent whisper. "I think he was right about the possibility of the Johto political scene falling to pieces!"

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing I won't even have my phone on while we're out in the middle of nowhere training," Jenna said. "No way you can get distracted by any news that way. Besides, what will Johto matter if you can change the entire world? My mind's made up already. A month of training with me and my pokémon will be worth so much more than a month of stupid speeches and pointless political gambits."

"Jenna, I-"

"Forget it. We're staying and training, starting tomorrow. Got it?"

Before Eve could respond, Aiden came back into the clearing, carrying the body of a bidoof in his jaws. The aerodactyl scented the blood and immediately jerked awake and looked at the kill.

~Eve, is that for me?~ the aerodactyl said. ~I'm so hungry!~

Aiden placed the kill on the ground a few feet away. "Yeah, it's for you. Go ahead and dig in."

~Yay!~ the chick leaped off of Eve's lap and practically dove into the rotund corpse, her young jaws and teeth having no problem ripping through the layers of flesh.

Eve looked at this, and realized there was nothing she could do except go along with Jenna's plan. She couldn't possibly raise something like an aerodactyl anywhere near humans.

She sighed, and looked back over to Jenna. "All right, you win. Not like you'd have let me go anywhere even if I hadn't agreed."

Jenna grinned. "Glad you could see things my way."

* * *

And with this chapter, the 200,000 word mark has been reached! ^_^ Still not quite as long as my Shugo Chara! fanfic, but it's almost there. Speaking of which, I've been thinking of restarting that lately... But since I won't restart it until I finish this, that topic is neither here nor there. But that fanfic has the best character I've ever created, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, another miracle happened that let me get this done! Though how much of a miracle it was is actually up for debate. I got really sick, and so I couldn't go to school on Monday; but then I felt back to normal about an hour after school started, so I had the choice of either writing or working on my toothpick bridge physics project. I chose writing.

So yeah, thanks to everyone for reading! And double thanks to those of you who review!


	32. The Test

**Chapter Thirty-Two: The Test**

"All right, troops! Line up!" Jenna said when all the pokémon – both Eve's and her own – had gathered about mid-afternoon. "Lunch will have to wait! Now what are you waiting around for? Get into a line already!"

The eleven pokémon (Jenna's six, Eve's four, and the aerodactyl) all quickly hustled into place, forming a line in the center of the clearing that had become their training base camp. They were all hungry, but they didn't dare complain; it had become apparent early on in the training that Jenna wasn't going to take any laziness or disobedience from anyone.

Jenna crossed her arms and looked at the lineup intently for a few moments. Eve watched her watching them for a few moments, then asked, "Just what are we doing, exactly?"

"I was just getting to that, if you'd be patient," Jenna said as she unfolded her arms and walked a bit closer to the line. "My pokémon, go ahead and step back." Her order was once again promptly obeyed, leaving only five anxious pokémon in the row. Jenna nodded her approval, then continued, "Troops, we've been training for exactly two weeks as of today. Now's the perfect time for a progress report. I want you to show me what you've learned, then tell Eve what you're working on or planning to work on. Aiden, you're up first. Stella, you get back up here! You're playing the target!"

The nidoqueen in question made a grumbling noise as she stepped forward. ~You know, this'd be a lot more fun if she'd just let me attack back.~

Jenna nodded to Aiden as soon as Stella was in position. "Okay, you overgrown mutt. You can start."

Aiden started with a full-out body slam, which had probably been the easiest attack for him to learn; it knocked Stella down, but she got up again acting as if she'd merely tripped. Without pausing to regain his breath, Aiden then began tearing up the ground with his front paws. The dirt seemed to move out of his way of its own accord, and he was completely underground in about a second. He emerged behind his target, shook the dirt from his fur, then howled loudly to boost his spirits.

Then, with his now heightened attack, he used a crunch attack on Stella's tail. She simply endured it, hardly even flinching at the pain. Aiden soon let go and backed up a ways, turning to Jenna and Eve to signal that he was finished.

~I'm also working on a heat wave attack, since my current fire blast is pretty inaccurate. I've been trying and failing to get sunny day down; if I can get it, then Flame is going to teach me solarbeam.~

Eve related this news to Jenna, who seemed satisfied by the report. She shouted for the next pokémon in line, Pebble, to come forward.

Out of the group, Eve had thought that he would have made the least progress. This was in part because he was already fairly advanced as far as the number and types of techniques that he had at his disposal. Before training, he'd already known things like dragonbreath, aqua tail, rain dance, and a grass-type hidden power; it didn't seem likely that there was much more he'd be able to learn.

However, as Eve watched him begin his barrage of attacks, she realized that she'd been very much mistaken. As it turned out, the dratini was actually the fastest, most versatile learner of the bunch. In just the two weeks, he'd learned at least one attack from each of Jenna's pokémon: ice beam from Stella, substitute from Amber the ninetails, flamethrower and dragon dance from Flame, rest from Rasu the tyranitar, light screen from Silver the golduck, and endure from Sandy the sandslash. The sheer number and complexity of the attacks he had learned amazed Eve; she'd hardly known it was even possible for him to learn most of those techniques. She supposed it had something to do with him being a dragon. And he was well on his way to knowing several other attacks, namely mist and thunderbolt.

Admittedly, all of the attacks he demonstrated were very weak compared to Aiden's masterfully learned attacks; but so long as he had the basics down, Jenna reasoned that he could work on strength and technique by himself, even when her pokémon weren't around to tutor.

Basil was next, and he proved himself to have a learning style similar to Aiden's in the sense that the few attacks he had down were practically mastered already. Protect was the most impressive, being such a difficult attack to learn; it had been even more of a challenge thanks to the fact that his tutor, Silver, used psychic energy to create the wall of energy, whereas Basil could only use his electricity. He'd also learned discharge, which would be very helpful if ever he was faced with multiple opponents.

As for the attacks that he was working on but couldn't use just yet, substitute and thunder were the ones he was most excited about. He was much less enthusiastic about others such as signal beam and wish, and Eve doubted he'd get them learned until he had mastered his favorites.

Given so much time to train and no pokémon of Jenna's that really knew many grass attacks, Hannah had taken to experimenting with some techniques that she'd seen utilized by both wild and trained pokémon. With just a little guidance, she'd managed to learn energy ball, aromatherapy, and toxic. In addition to these, she was currently trying to learn solarbeam from Flame and ancientpower from Rasu.

When these four pokémon had all finished their demonstrations (with Stella somehow seeming just as fine as when she'd started), Jenna turned to the aerodactyl. After about a week of the training, Eve had finally given in and named the capricious yet kind pokémon, so this young aerodactyl was now going by the name of Thistle.

"So Thistle, you can go ahead and show off any attacks if you want. You're still practically a hatchling, so I'm not expecting much," Jenna said.

~I'm not a hatchling anymore!~ Thistle squawked in response, flapping her wings agitatedly. There was at least some truth in this statement; in just two weeks, she'd grown to over half of what her full size would be. When standing, she was nearly four feet tall at her shoulders; if Eve's memory was correct, then her parents had been perhaps another two and a half feet taller by that measure.

Jenna ignored the squawk of protest, and instead continued, "Mainly, I want to see your flying. You're obviously not strong enough to carry much of anything yet, so I just want to see your speed and maneuverability. Got it?"

Thistle let out another squawk, much deeper than the squeaks of her hatching yet not quite so harsh as the shrieks Eve remembered from her previous encounters with fully-grown aerodactyl. ~Fine, but I'm showing you my attacks first!~

She started with a supersonic, which though effective managed to nearly blast out everyone's eardrums in the process; a good supersonic attack was much more focused on the opponent. She then charged forward in an ungainly run, flapping her wings to keep balance. As soon as she reached Stella, she used bite. Even for her young age, it looked to be a powerful attack. To everyone's surprise, she let go and then bit down again with fire around her teeth; Eve supposed she must have picked up the attack from all the time she'd spent with Flame while learning to fly.

Apparently exhausted of all her moves already, she then flapped her wings and rose into the sky. Despite her already large size and her inexperience (she'd only been flying for three days), she was rather fast and agile. Eve remembered how surprised she'd been by the speed of the other aerodactyl; Thistle would probably be no different, even when she gained more mass. She was still easily unbalanced by gusts of wind, however, and she occasionally couldn't pull out from a stunt without clipping a wing against the top of a tree. She had little endurance as well, and because of this, the demonstration lasted no more than ten minutes despite Jenna's goading.

When the prehistoric pokémon finally landed, Jenna nodded her head approvingly to all of Eve's pokémon. "You're all doing tolerably well, I suppose. You've still got a long way to go until I'm done with you. But for now, I'm starving! Let's eat, and then straight back to training!"

Eve sighed at this last comment; other than meals, neither she nor her pokémon had had any sort of breaks from dawn until dusk during the past two weeks. And Jenna had insisted on working Eve practically as hard as all of the pokémon. Yet she didn't dare complain; as tough as it already was, she didn't like to think of how much her training regiment might increase if Jenna heard any sort of whining. Instead, she hurried to lead everyone over to the veritable mound of berries that Jenna had forced her to find and pick this morning, hoping that there would be enough for everyone who wasn't hunting.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So if I sent out a snorlax and order it to attack, how do you react?" Jenna asked as she hurled a stone at Eve.

Eve quickly dodged, but was hit in the arm when another rock followed in quick succession. She ignored the pain, just as she had forced herself to ignore the fact that Jenna _must _enjoy hurting her if she insisted on such ridiculous training as this. "I, um, would send out Aiden. His speed and size would prove a good match for the snorlax."

Eve jumped out of the way as Jenna sent another stone flying her way. This training was supposed to help Eve become better at thinking quickly under pressure, as well as keep track of multiple threats and ideas at once.

"Not bad, but keep in mind that snorlax are partially immune to fire- and ice-type attacks," Jenna replied, as she reached down to the ground to pick up another armful from her pile of stones. Fortunately for Eve, it turned out that the pile had already been completely exhausted from the hour or so of training that they'd been doing since lunch. She looked at the empty ground for a moment or two, then said, "Well, I guess that's that. Now's time for the real test."

She looked up to the sky and let out a high-pitched whistle as Eve anxiously wondered what 'test' Jenna was talking about. Within seconds, Flame and Thistle came in for a landing. Together, the two seemed to take up half the clearing. Flame, of course, had always been large by Eve's standards, since her head was nearly three feet above Eve.

But this was the first time in over a week that Eve had seen the two side-by-side, and it was a shock to her to see just how much Thistle had grown in comparison. Exactly four weeks ago, the aerodactyl had been a hatchling around a foot or two in height. Now, she was an absolutely massive flying machine, notably larger than Flame. In fact, Flame's long neck only brought her eyes to a little above Thistle's wings. Thistle had turned out to be even taller than either of her parents; if Eve had to guess, she would've said that Thistle was now nearly seven feet tall at the shoulders, and she couldn't even begin to think about how much she probably weighed.

Jenna spoke a few moments after the duo landed. "Flame, I want you to find all the other pokémon and tell them to come back here. Got it?"

Rather than answer, the charizard kicked off the ground and powerfully beat her wings, somehow easily managing to get her bulk into the air.

Now Jenna turned to Thistle. "While we're waiting for them, you've got a choice to make. You're a month old, and you're obviously big enough to take care of yourself. You've even learned a small variety of attacks, which is impressive enough considering that you've barely been alive long enough to learn the basics. So my question is this: do you want to be a wild pokémon, or do you want to join up with Eve permanently?"

~I'm staying with Eve!~ Thistle said without hesitation as she walked over to Eve and affectionately nudged her head against her body; the aerodactyl's head alone was larger than Eve's torso, and even this gentle rub nearly knocked Eve off her feet.

Eve scratched the top of Thistles head with just as much fondness. "But your parents died wanting you to be free of humans. And me and my pokémon are the reason they're dead. Are you sure-"

Thistle jerked upright and flapped her wings in agitation. ~Of course I'm sure! My parents are dead anyway, and it hardly matters if you're the one who killed them or not. You didn't want to, after. And you've taken care of me ever since then. I'd much prefer to be with you and Basil and Aiden and everyone else rather than fly around the skies aimlessly. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind, considering the circumstances.~

Eve sighed, but didn't argue any more. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd become very attached to Thistle in the weeks since she'd hatched, and she would have been very sad to see her leave. Wordlessly, she took out an empty pokéball from her hip pouch and tapped the opening mechanism to Thistle's head; the aerodactyl entered the pokéball without hesitation. Eve immediately let her out again, and Thistle flapped her wings excitedly as she let out a shriek of pleasure. She seemed happier than ever to finally really be a part of Eve's team.

By now, all of Eve and Jenna's pokémon had returned. Those who hadn't arrived in time for the conversation between Eve and Thistle came in time to see Thistle let out of her pokéball, and so no one had to be told what just happened. With that business out of the way, Eve turned back to Jenna.

Jenna, however, was ignoring Eve for the moment; instead, she was grabbing pokéballs from her belt and returning her pokémon one by one. None of them (and, for that matter, none of Eve's pokémon) had been inside their pokéballs during their four weeks of training, so Eve wondered what Jenna could possibly have in mind.

Eventually, only Flame was left out of her pokéball, and it seemed as if Jenna intended on keeping things that way. She looked at Eve for a moment, then jumped onto the back of the charizard; it was quite an impressive feat when considering that she had to scramble up a height nearly as tall as herself just to get to the dragon's shoulders.

"Eve, your test begins now," Jenna said once she was securely in position, a large grin spreading on her face. "Flame, smokescreen!"

Before Eve or her pokémon could quite comprehend what was happening, they found themselves surrounded by a thick, blinding smoke. Eve was almost immediately incapacitated; whereas the pokémon around her (aside perhaps from Aiden) were simply coughing and unable to see due to the smoke, Eve found herself completely unable to take in enough oxygen to stay conscious for long. As the doctors had predicted, her lungs had never quite healed from being around Blight. Her vision blacked out, and she felt her knees beginning to give out beneath her.

Almost without her realizing it, Eve found herself grasped around her stomach by a pair of thin but strong arms. Then her heart seemed to drop to her feet as she felt herself and her captor lurch off the ground and into the sky.

Her vision still refused to clear for about thirty seconds after leaving the smoke; this probably had something to do with the thinness of the air and the vicelike grip that was partly constricting her lungs. When her vision finally did return, it took her a while to fully take in the situation in which she found herself. She looked above her and saw that she was being held by Flame (with Jenna on her back), and they were circling in the sky.

Flame noticed her gaze, and said, ~Sorry about this. Really, I am. Jenna can be really unreasonably sometimes. Hopefully, you won't end up getting hurt.~

"Hopefully?" Eve repeated, not quite liking the lack of surety in the statement. But she was distracted from Flame momentarily as she looked back to the ground and saw that the smoke was finally clearing, thanks in part to the fact that Thistle had just realized that her wings made a great fan.

As Eve watched her pokémon come into view, she saw from their body movements that they were realizing that she had disappeared. Thistle was the first one to look into the sky for her, and as soon as she did, she let out a scream of rage and took off, aiming her body towards Eve, Flame, and Jenna.

If her lungs would have let her, Eve would have screamed at Thistle to stop her charge; the aerodactyl was too enraged to act rationally, and Eve didn't doubt that she would more likely be killed than saved if Thistle managed to reach her.

Flame dodged at the last moment, much to Eve's relief. As she put some distance between herself and Thistle, Jenna shouted, "Hey Thistle! You sure that's a good idea! You know, Flame's arms are pretty small, and Jenna might just… Slip!"

And as she uttered this last word, Eve felt the arms around her loosen and she found herself falling through the air. A scream rose in her throat, and her lungs somehow managed to force out the noise.

The scream gave speed to Thistle's movements as she dove towards Eve, flapping her wings to make up the distance. Eve soon saw the purple-grey body next to her, and she immediately grabbed on; she'd barely managed to get a good grip before Thistle pulled out of her dive, just barely managing to miss hitting the tops of the trees below her.

~Are you all right, Eve?~ Thistle asked worriedly as she continued to skim over the treetops.

Eve was shaking so much that she stuttered as she replied, "Y-yeah. Just a b-bit shocked."

Before anything else could be said, Flame suddenly dropped down beside them, keeping pace. The charizard turned her head towards them and, at her trainer's command, let out a full-power flamethrower. Thistle just barely managed to fly upwards to dodge the attack.

"Can't let down your guard now!" Jenna shouted at Eve. "So what are you going to do?"

Eve felt Thistle beginning to change her course, so that she would be heading back to attack Jenna and Flame. Eve hung on tightly; she was lying on her stomach, with her arms just barely reaching around the aerodactyl's thick neck and her legs clasped together around the single almost spike-like projection that jutted from Thistle's back.

"Thistle! D-don't attack just yet! Get some distance away from them!" Eve shouted over the sound of the rushing air, slowly regaining control of her speech. "Flame may have more experience, but you're bigger and naturally faster! We need to use that to our advantage!"

Thistle reluctantly did as she was told, gaining altitude as she tried to lengthen the gap between herself and Flame. It seemed to be working, though Eve had to constantly warn her when to dodge the flamethrowers that Flame was shooting off in an attempt to stop or slow them.

After a couple minutes of this frustrating and dangerous game of meowth-and-rattata, Eve said, "Thistle, I want you to get back to where we left everyone else. Once we're close, you're going to start diving towards them, and shout out to Basil that he'll need to jump on. You'll probably need to land for a moment so he can board, but the others can ward Flame off while we do it. I'd have either Pebble or Hannah board, too, but we're going to need you as speedy as possible. Sound good?"

~Got it,~ Thistle said. ~Now hold on tight!~ They had been flying away from their starting point this entire time, and now Thistle did an abrupt turn to reverse her direction. This brought her straight towards Flame and Jenna, but neither was expecting the sudden change; the worse that came out of it was a direct flamethrower to Thistle's stomach, but her rocky skin simply repelled the worst of the damage.

They executed the plan flawlessly; Eve's pokémon didn't even need to be told to fire off their best ranged attacks at Flame. Eve even considered staying down on the ground, where there was safety in numbers. But as soon as Basil had boarded, Eve gave to order to take off. She thought that staying on the ground might provoke Jenna into using her other pokémon, and Eve definitely did not want that to happen. One was enough trouble.

"Good!" Eve heard Jenna shout as Thistle cautiously winged her way back into the sky, being very careful to stay as far away from the approaching charizard as possible. "Just because I'm only using one pokémon doesn't mean you have to. Too many trainers make the mistake of keeping only one pokémon out in an emergency. So, what tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

Honestly, Eve only had one strategy that would use both of her pokémon to the best of their abilities. Thistle could only use physical attacks, and Basil was only good with special; Eve figured she could combine the two. "Thistle, I want you to go in close and do what damage you can. Basil, I want you to be firing off thunderbolts as we come in, so that we can keep them from hitting us away with flamethrowers. And stand on my shoulder so that the backlash of the shocks don't disrupt Thistle's flying."

~But Eve, the electricity will hurt you just as much as it would hurt Thistle!~ Basil argued as Thistle began to angle back towards Flame slightly, though she was still keeping her distance until Basil was ready. ~And what happens if you fall off while Thistle and Flame are fighting wing-to-wing? It's too dangerous! For once, I'm putting my foot down!~ He sparked defiantly, as if to emphasize his point.

Eve was touched. Basil hardly ever argued with her so firmly; he had to be really worried about her to do that. Nonetheless, she answered, "But we have to attack decisively. Jenna will destroy us if we hesitate – I don't completely trust her to hold back if she gets the upper hand."

Basil's sparks picked up in power, to the point that they were hurting Eve. ~No! Eve, you can't! I won't… I won't… I won't follow your orders if you do!~ Eve could see that his eyes were filled with tears, which was a surprise to her. Normally, crying was a solely human expression; a pokémon who did it had to be extremely, _extremely _upset about something. And for Basil to threaten to directly disobey Eve… He'd never done anything like that. He followed even the least desirable of orders.

~But Basil, we have to!~ Thistle shouted. ~Eve's our trainer. Even if she's not really any more of a human than us, she's been around humans more. She probably has a much better idea of what she's doing than we do.~

Basil flicked his ears in irritation, his eyes still wet. ~No! I won't! Eve, this is one of the stupidest things you've ever done, and that's saying something!~

If Eve could've taken her arms from around Thistle's neck, she would've hugged Basil then and there in an effort to comfort him; though he'd always been sort of a worrywart about Eve, she'd never seen him this distraught. Yet despite her care for him, she said, "Basil, if you refuse to fight, then there's nothing I can do about it. But there's only one way to pass this test, and I'm certain that Jenna wants me risking my life. Thistle, move in; don't give Flame or Jenna the chance to guess what we're doing. If Flame uses flamethrower, then dodge it best you can and keep on going."

~Eve!~ Basil cried, just as Thistle said ~All right!~ and suddenly pivoted in midair. Eve hung on for dear life as Thistle went at an incredible speed towards the fire-dragon; and, true to the orders, Flame didn't have time to react before Thistle was upon her.

"Try to grab Jenna in your talons if you can!" Eve shouted as she ducked her head and tightened her grasp on Thistle's neck, attempting to avoid getting knocked off by the buffets of wings. Basil was tucked against her neck, practically biting onto Eve's shirt for a better grip. "If we get Jenna, we end this completely!"

In response, Eve heard Jenna laugh almost maniacally. "You learned even more than I thought, Eve!" she yelled over the chaos. "Unless you're battling for fun or in a regulation battle, then there's no reason _not _to use dirty tactics! Even the Team Galactic idiots I fought a decade ago always seemed to forget that! All right, Eve, you pass part one of the test! Now onto part two!"

Since Eve was scrunched against Thistle's neck and shoulders, she didn't quite see all that happened next. All she was able to make out was that Flame, being much smaller and more aerially experienced than Thistle, suddenly managed to maneuver above the aerodactyl and once again latch her arms around Eve's middle; Eve was ripped away from Thistle as Flame began to dive, angling straight for a nearby lake. It wasn't just any old lake, though. Their training base had been a clearing only a couple hundred feet away from Lake Verity's shore, and that was the body of water that they were heading towards now. As they got closer and closer, Eve saw all her pokémon running towards the lake, all of them guessing from Flame's direction what the destination was.

They skimmed over the water in the middle of the lake for a few moments before the grip around Eve's middle disappeared and she dropped into the water with a forceful splash. She quickly came up to the surface and sputtered for air, only to feel a cold grip around her ankle pull her back under the surface.

~Sorry,~ said a familiar voice in the water; Eve opened her eyes to see that Silver the golduck was her new tormentor. Though he was completely sincere in his apology, he was also rather sarcastically cheery as he continued, ~But don't worry, I have orders not to really let you drown unless your pokémon really screw this up. You ought to be fine.~ At this, he let go of her ankle. Eve swam up for air yet again, but her body was already exhausted from the stress of the flight. And her t-shirt and jeans only made it harder to keep herself afloat.

Still, she managed somehow, and she even happened to get a glimpse of the situation in its entirety. Flame and Jenna were circling above her head, and Silver was circling around her on the surface of the water; and back on the shore, all of Eve's pokémon (including Thistle, who, judging by the dirt that covered her entire front side, had been forced into a crash landing) were standing completely still, as if afraid to go any farther. Basil was there, too; when Eve had been grabbed by Flame, he must have instinctually stayed on Thistle's back.

And suddenly, Eve became aware that Jenna was saying something, and she did her best to stop gasping for air and listen. "Yes, that's right," Jenna was shouting towards the shore. "This is Eve's challenge. It's a trainer's job not to rely on her pokémon for every little thing. If she can't get back to shore by herself – a simple enough task – then perhaps she doesn't deserve to be a trainer in the first place. And don't think I'm lying when I say that Flame and Silver _will_ kill any of you that try to interfere. You guys need this lesson just as much as Eve does."

Eve managed to take all this in and begin swimming frantically towards her pokémon in response. But even as she began to swim a crude front crawl, she knew she couldn't make it. Her head kept on dipping under the water every few seconds, and each time this happened, she was drug deeper underwater for longer and longer periods of time. If she'd had the convenience of a swimming suit, she would've had a better chance; after all, the wartortle who had given her the strand that still was clipped in her hair had also taught her to be a fairly decent swimmer. But with all her clothes weighing her down, her already weak lungs, and the stressed state of her body, she had no chance.

Eve was so intent on her lost cause of making it to shore that she didn't even see when her pokémon broke from their frozen stances and advanced, heedless of Jenna's threat. Pebble swam into the lake with Basil on his head, Thistle took Hannah with her into the sky, and Aiden started running nervously up and down the shore as he tried to find a spot near enough to fire off a flamethrower at either Flame or Silver.

Meanwhile, Flame and Silver had wasted no time in ensuring that Jenna's threat was kept. Silver was amazingly fast, and as he began circling around Pebble and Basil on the surface of the water, not even Basil's thunderbolts could hit him. True, the water made the damage spread, so that he must have taken some of it; but in order for it to have any real effect on such a strong pokémon, Basil needed a direct hit.

It didn't help that Silver suddenly began bombarding them with all sorts of attacks: hydro pump, psychic, energy ball, etc. There was no way for Pebble to swim well or for Basil to aim accurately so long as they were struggling to stay afloat.

Above them, Thistle and Hannah weren't doing too well, either. Even when Thistle bothered to get in close, her bulk simply didn't compensate for the strength that Flame posessed from years and years of training. And Hannah couldn't do much attacking, due to the fact that she was unused to being so high in the air.

When Eve finally surfaced after a time of maybe twenty seconds under the water, she stopped swimming and switched to treading water as she glimpsed what was happening. She was still being pulled under, but this at least gave her a few extra moments to view the situation.

_They must have come to try to save me,_ Eve said. _The only reason they didn't come earlier was because they thought that maybe Jenna was really trying to help me. I'd shout out for them to stop… But I'm going under again. _As water yet again filled her vision, her exhausted mind thought on what it had just seen, and realized something. _Silver and Flame… Their attacks were showy, but they weren't doing much damage. All of my pokémon would be dead by now if they were being serious._

Eve managed to break through the surface again, and just as she did, she felt something's body beneath her, supporting her. She willingly let her weight fall onto it, being otherwise unable to keep herself afloat any longer. She looked down to see that Silver was the pokémon who was helping her; and above, Jenna's voice was ringing out across the entire lake:

"Very good, very good! It was because of this sort of thing that I started to like Eve! The very best trainers are the ones whose pokémon will risk their lives for the trainer's safety. It's not an easy bond to form, but it's the one thing that all gym leaders, all members of the Elite Four, and all Champions share, no matter how cruel or hateful they might actually be. Anyway, you pass part two! Last test is next!"

Even with Eve weighing him down, Silver literally cut through the water back to shore; almost immediately upon landing, Eve's pokémon swarmed around her. None of them had been seriously hurt during the last skirmishes, and so all of them were putting their energy into making sure she was all right. Even Pebble, normally the most aloof of the bunch, had coiled himself around her legs protectively.

~Good luck with the last test,~ Silver shouted at her as he swam back to deeper waters. He waved his hand at her as he said this and Eve saw that he was holding something beige-colored, though she couldn't begin to guess what it was. ~Trust me, you'll need it. It's the most dangerous of the three.~

Eve almost didn't hear him over the continued fussing of her own pokémon; what she _did _hear without any troubles was the thump of Flame as she landed not ten feet away. All of Eve's pokémon quickly turned to face the dragon and her trainer. Despite the relative friendliness there had been between the entire group over the past month, veritable hatred seemed to pour out of them. They could put up with most of Jenna's eccentricities, but this was taking things one step too far.

Though Jenna undoubtedly could tell from their growls and stances that they were far from pleased, she didn't let this bother her as she took two more pokéballs from her belt and threw them into the air. Amber the ninetails and Stella the nidoqueen emerged, both looking quite eager for battle.

"And here's the last test!" Jenna shouted excitedly. "Stella and Amber, attack Eve's pokémon! No holding back!"

Almost without thinking, Eve ordered back, "Aiden and Basil, you've got Amber! Thistle, Pebble, and Hannah, you all go for Stella!" And though she was able to keep herself composed enough to give this order promptly – which was entirely due to Jenna's training routine – her mind was in turmoil. All five of Eve's pokémon might have had the slightest chance of holding off one of Jenna's. Two at once, however, was another matter entirely.

As if that weren't bad enough, these were the only two of Jenna's pokémon that truly would attack anyone without hesitation. Stella did it simply out of her blind pursuit of anything that made her stronger; she was completely oblivious to anything that didn't pertain to battle. Amber, on the other hand, was as close to cruel as a pokémon could get. Certainly, she didn't go out of her way _just _to harm someone; and yet she hardly needed a reason to attack full-force in any battle, no matter how weak the opponent. The ninetails species had a nickname in folklore: the beautiful demon. Eve couldn't exactly disagree with that statement after knowing Amber for long, at least when comparing her to other pokémon.

All this flashed through Eve's head in an instant, and in another instant she was shouting out orders again as the seven pokémon clashed. "Aiden, block any fire attacks for Basil, and both of you try to keep your distance! You're both faster than her! And Hannah, Thistle, and Pebble, under no circumstances should you let Stella land a physical hit – she's best at brute strength attacks! Keep to ranged and special attacks!"

Yet even as the battle began, it was already over. Electric sparks gathered on the nidoqueens spines, then arced up to Thistle in a shock wave attack that immediately knocked out the month-old pokémon. Meanwhile, Amber had used some sort of psychic attack to send Aiden flying; he wasn't knocked out immediately, but the dark pulse attack that followed finished the job. Pebble and Hannah were then both knocked out by some massive energy that Stella built up around her body and launched at the two. If Eve had to guess, this had to be a superpower attack, though she'd only heard about such a technique in stories of the strongest pokémon. Finally, Basil was hit with a fire blast attack that almost completely engulfed his small body.

All of Eve's pokémon were decisively knocked out within a minute of the start of the battle. All of them, that is, except for Basil. Somehow, despite the direct and powerful nature of the fire blast, the severely charred electric type was still attempting to get up and attack. He was too damaged to really do anything, of course; yet Amber hardly seemed to notice. She was slowly advancing on her victim, her long white canine fangs literally dripping with flames. A wild, mean light danced in her scarlet eyes. She couldn't stand to have any pokémon – especially a puny little pikachu – still be conscious after one of her attacks. There was no doubt about it; she was going in for the kill now. And Jenna wasn't going to stop her.

Eve reached to her side for Basil's pokéball, only to realize that her hip pouch wasn't there. _That must have been what Silver had in his hand as he swam away; he must've taken it as part of this test,_ she reasoned quickly, her body trembling both from everything that had occurred before and what was occurring now. But other than that single thought, there was nothing else to dwell on. It was too late to think. Action was needed now.

And so Eve – the small, shaking, red-headed teen – stepped forward and stopped directly in front of Basil, right in Amber's way.

~Eve… No!~ Basil said as he continued to struggle to push himself off the ground. ~I've got things covered! You'll only get hurt if you get involved!~

The ninetails paused for a moment, her many beautiful tails waving gracefully to and fro behind her; it was a stark contrast the noticeable bloodlust in her eyes. ~The runt is right. I have no orders to attack you, silly human. Just your pokémon. Of course, if you insist…~ Amber crouched down, preparing to leap forward and sink her burning fangs into Eve's flesh.

Eve had a good idea of just what this "test" was; but even if she'd had no clue, she would have replied no differently than with what she said at this moment, an accepting smile on her face –

"Yes. I insist."

Amber waited not a moment longer; she sprang into the air, her long tails seeming to stream behind her demonic countenance. Eve was knocked down as the ninetails sank her fire-cloaked teeth into the tender flesh of Eve's shoulder, barely an inch away from her jugular. Eve – the weak, the flawed, the always-helpless eighteen-year-old girl – screamed in pain and terror, knowing just what Amber was capable of.

The pain was so intense that it hardly seemed to fade when the ninetails suddenly loosed her grip, lifted her head, and walked back towards Jenna. And Eve was still moaning in pain, curled up on the ground when Basil managed to crawl up to her, mumbling how sorry he was that he still wasn't strong enough to protect her.

After maybe five minutes of lying on the ground in pain, Eve's nerves seemed to numb themselves and she was able to relax somewhat. And it was then and only then that Jenna stepped forward and said, "You pass the third test. Congrats. Anyway, quit lying on the ground like a big baby. We'll get you bandaged up soon enough. For now, though… Why don't we go ahead and give Mark a call? I reckon we're close enough to Twinleaf Town to get some cell service here…"

Basil actually managed to spark a little in anger despite his heavily damaged condition. ~Eve's shoulder is probably _broken_ from that attack. Not to mention burnt. How can you even think about calling anyone when you were the one who did this to her?~

Jenna, of course, was oblivious to this; only Eve heard the comment, and a pained smile tugged at her face in response. No matter how many other pokémon Eve befriended, Basil had been and always would be the one whom she cared about the most, and who cared about her the most in return. All her pokémon would die for her, there was no questioning that; but the relationship between her and the little electric mouse was something even deeper than that. Even while suffering from such pain, that one idea managed to comfort Eve.

_No matter what, _she thought, _Basil won't let anything hurt me, and I won't let anything hurt him, for as long as both of us are still alive. If there's anything I know for sure, it's that. _And she had no doubts in this fact; her current injuries and Basil's near-fainting condition didn't make it any less true in her mind, ironically enough.

And it was a good thing that she found certainty in that fact, for what happened next completely turned Eve's world upside-down. While Eve had been lost in both pain and thought, Jenna had turned on her phone for the first time in a month to see that it had been flooded with messages. Curious, she had gone to her first voicemail and listened to it; and as soon as she had heard it in its entirety, she literally fell to the ground in a fit of laughter.

The sudden mirth further enraged Basil, and it distantly intrigued Eve through the haze of pain. When Jenna finally recovered after nearly five solid minutes of laughter, what she said shocked Eve so much that it completely obliterated all thought, even the thought of the pain.

"Well, what do you know! That blind idiot was right for once!" Jenna said in a loud voice, her joviality making it hard for her to say a full sentence without chuckling. "Get this, Eve. While we've been gone, Johto has-" she half snorted, then resumed, "Johto has-" Laughter interrupted her once again.

Finally, managing to master her laughter for just a few moments, she blurted out, "Team Rocket managed to pull off a full revolution! The Johto government has been toppled!" And then she fell to the ground again, her level of amusement rivaled in intensity only by the horror that suddenly flooded Eve's mind.

* * *

When I first wrote this chapter (namely the second half of it), I loved it. ^_^ And I still love it, though admittedly I didn't like it as much when I reread it... Go figure. But yeah, revolution in Johto is, well, exciting for me to write about. After all, everything will be different from here on out. Eve has always lived under a stable government, but now... Well, who knows what will happen? Does she even need to have anything to do with Johto anymore? Are there any more powers located there? The possibilities are endless, and all are equally exciting... And the thing is, they really are almost all possibilities. We're getting to a point in the story where I really only have vague ideas of what will happen next; from the beginning up until a couple chapters from now, I have been following an outline of the storyline to the letter. It definitely makes things more interesting for me...

ANYWAY, I want to give a huge THANK YOU to several new reviewers for some wonderful reviews I received! So thanks so much to AlanAB100, gmng24, The Warrior of Many Faces, Buoysel, and Memo! Your reviews literally brightened my life considerably over several days; makes me think that maybe I'm not completely insane for spending so much time writing this fanfic! And, of course, thanks to all of you who have continued to review: Luxord's Xigbar, RedemptionWarrior, Yaersulf, and Lala Land Yay. All of you - new and old reviewers alike - are AWESOME for taking some time to let me know how you feel about the story!


	33. Resistance

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Resistance**

"Jenna, I still don't think this is the best idea!" Eve shouted over the sound of the wind as it rushed past her; even with Thistle flying as close to Flame as possible, it was hard for Eve to make herself heard.

Naturally a loud person, Jenna had no similar problem as she shouted back, "What? Are you saying you don't want to do your duty for your dying country?" She had her customary cruel smile on her face, as if letting her own country rot would be on top of her list of things to do in a similar situation.

Eve shook her head. "It's not that! But I feel like I need to go look for Giratina! It's the only lead I've got, and it seems like the fate of the entire world is more important than that of a single country!"

"Ah, the foolishness of Utilitarianism. One for all and all for nothing," Jenna murmured to herself, amused.

"What!"

"I was just saying how Mespirit didn't even think that Giratina was the one, so it seems like a pretty empty lead!" Jenna lied. "Besides, I grew up in Sinnoh and I've never even heard of Giratina! Our best chance is to persuade Cynthia to help us out, and she's busy helping Lance and what's left of the executive branch of government! Speaking of which-"

Suddenly a pidgeot and a noctowl and their human riders descended on either side of Jenna and Eve; Eve had been so engrossed in hearing and making herself heard that she hadn't even noticed them before now. Both of the human newcomers looked ready to attack if necessary, though their respective pokémon were so small in comparison to Thistle and Flame that the idea seemed laughable.

"Land, now!" The angry-looking female trainer on the noctowl said. "If you don't, we attack! We have plenty of more trainers standing by!"

Jenna laughed loudly. "Man, you guys are more idiotic than I thought! Guess war makes everyone dumber. Don't you know who I am? Or who she is?" She gestured to Eve as she said this last bit, but then continued on before the noctowl-rider could respond. "Anyway, just forget it. Take us to Indigo Plateau already!"

The girl seemed too focused on apprehending the trespassers to take Jenna's words to heart and take the time to really look at the two windblown trainers; thankfully for her, the man riding the pidgeot realized who they had stumbled upon, told the girl as much, and then hastened to lead them on a more direct course for Indigo Plateau.

Of all the places in and near Johto, Indigo Plateau had seemed the most appropriate place for the executive branch of the former democracy to plan its course of action. They didn't exactly have to keep the location secret; the Indigo Mountain Range around it was so craggy and difficult to navigate that only flying pokémon could possibly make it there easily.

It took Eve, Jenna, and their escorts another thirty minutes to arrive at their destination, the home of the Elite Four and Champion of both Kanto and Johto. As it turned out, the aerial patrols were very spread out so as to give best notice should Team Rocket – or, as they now called themselves, the New Republic of Johto – try to attack. Even on the Kanto side of the Indigo Mountain Range, this patrol was no less vigilant.

After arriving at the Indigo Plateau and walking past a veritable battalion of trainers ready to guard the door in the event of an emergency, they found themselves greeted by two people. One of them was Mark; the other was a kind-looking man in his twenties or thirties, with brown hair, brown eyes, and an overall average appearance.

To Eve's surprise, Jenna ran up and hugged this unknown man, though the action was more playful than affectionate. "Hey, Evan! This is a pleasant surprise! What're you doing here?"

Evan sighed, but he had a smile on his face that was filled with a strange mix of amusement, annoyance, and love. He sighed. "Well, you haven't bothered to come home for a couple months now, and you keep on coming up with excuses not to come back. First it's hanging out with Cynthia in Sinnoh, then it's campaigning in Johto, then it's back to Sinnoh for training… Arceus only knows how you've managed to only have one heart attack in your absence. Anyway, I figured I'd come here. I knew you'd turn up eventually."

Jenna broke from their embrace, grinning. "You know me too well."

So entranced was she by the sight of Jenna actually _hugging _someone (even though Eve realized that this Evan was Jenna's husband), she didn't really notice Mark until he actually came up and hugged her. Though sudden and unexpected, she probably would have liked it if not for the fact that he had pressed one of his arms against her barely-healed shoulder. She jerked away instinctively due to the pain.

"Sorry," she said, embarrassed and somewhat confused by Mark's action. To occupy herself for a few moment as she tried to figure it out, she pulled off the jacket she had been wearing for the flight. "Had a bit of an… accident while training. I can get by, but my shoulder is still pretty tender."

Mark actually blushed slightly, probably ashamed that he hadn't noticed it; after all, he had told Eve before that any imbalance in the body was something he could easily sense with Tim's help. "No, I'm sorry. I've just been rather worried about you. Jenna said you would be training for a while, but when Team Rocket took over and you still hadn't called, I couldn't help but wonder…" he trailed off, and neither of the two knew what to say.

"Conversation awkward enough over here yet?" Evan said as he and Jenna rejoined the two after finishing with their own greetings. He had a joking smile on his face, so different from the almost permanently mischievous grin that Jenna possessed. "Anyway, don't suppose I've introduced myself to you yet, Miss Addamson. I'm Evan Farlowe. Thanks for keeping my wreck of a wife occupied for a while, and I apologize if she's done you any harm. What did she do to your shoulder, exactly?"

"I didn't say…" Eve said, though she stopped mid-sentence as she saw Evan raise an eyebrow incredulously. He could easily guess the truth. "Just a fire fang to the shoulder. I had it looked at by a doctor in Sinnoh before we took a plane to Kanto. It should heal soon enough." She saw that Mark was about to get angry, so she quickly added, "But anyway, would someone tell me what exactly happened here? The truth of the matter is pretty sketchy in the news coverage of Sinnoh and Kanto. No one seems to be able to quite piece together what happened, aside from the most obvious fact of revolution."

Evan started walking towards a large hallway opposite of the main entrance. "I'll explain as we walk. Lance wants to speak with you and Jenna, I believe."

"Lance wants to speak with _me_? Jenna I understand, but… Isn't he heading up the effort to reclaim control of Johto? I mean, he's the Champion, isn't he?" Eve asked, rather appalled at the thought of having to speak with such an intimidating figure.

"Thank you, Miss Obvious. I had no idea that Lance is the Champion," Jenna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ignore her," Evan said. "Lance thinks you might have some special talents to lend the cause. Anyway, we'll worry about that in a couple minutes. You asked about how this all happened, right? Well, I'll tell you. I was in Lavender Town at the time all this happened, of course, but I've talked with enough eyewitnesses to be confident in the facts.

"After you left, Brian started stirring up his followers even more. Said that you had abandoned your side of the cause, or that you were conspiring with legends to take control of Johto, or something of the sort. This goaded a great number of his previously moderate followers into a sort of frenzy, to the point that those in the know offered their services to the underground operations of Rocket Corporation. Rocket already had plenty of new 'employees' from the past months of campaigning, and this new wave of support was apparently just what they had been waiting for.

"Thirteen days ago, in the middle of the day, they started their attack by striking at the heart of Johto. Using five gyarados and numerous other less imposing pokémon, they destroyed the legislature's Ecruteak building. It was the middle of the day, when all the legislators and everyone else affiliated with them was hard at work. Team Rocket claims to have brought them all under arrest before destroying the building, but we highly doubt their propaganda."

At this point, Mark grimly took up the story. "At the same time, they attacked the police departments of all the major cities, as well as any gyms that they had the power to fight at the time. Most leaders were strong enough to fight off the attackers and escape to here, but not all. We know for a fact that Jasmine is dead, and Chuck has been captured. Pryce has allied himself with the New Republic of Johto; he always had a hatred for the corrupt politicians of the old system, though I don't have a clue how he thinks Team Rocket can make it better. Karen and Will of the Elite Four also went over; Lance never liked having them as part of the league, though they had sucked up enough to the legislature in the past that he couldn't get them deposed when they qualified for Elite Four status."

"The point is, we're not in the best of shape," Evan said. "Sure, we have five gym leaders, two Elites, and two Champions with us. But three of those gym leaders are practically still adolescents, one of our Elites is a nut job who thinks he's a ninja – though Arceus knows how preferable he is to the two Elite Kooks who jipped on us –, Cynthia can't help out until she gets the okay from the Sinnoh government, and we have the disadvantage as far as current control of Johto goes. And since our old government was so corrupt and close to bankruptcy, no other countries are exactly leaping to our aid. Anyway, it's whatever. We'll figure out something. Lance is just within this room, so you'll maybe learn more from him." They'd been winding through a practical labyrinth of passageways and staircases throughout this discussion, and now Evan turned and knocked on a plain-looking metal door. "Hey! Can we come in? Jenna and Eve are here!"

"Yes, you can come in," said a dark voice from behind them. Evan and Eve both jumped and turned around (though neither Mark nor Jenna seemed surprised); the hallway had been completely empty except for them just a moment ago, surely. But standing right behind them was a stern looking man wearing dark clothing and a long red scarf that flowed behind him. "By the way, I heard that nut job comment, Evan. Do you want to know what a nut job ninja does when he's mocked?"

Evan smiled amiably. "What, you thought I was serious? Lighten up, Koga! And though I was joking, I've gotta admit it gets me every time when you just appear out of nowhere. You've gotta teach me how to do that sometime."

A grudging smirk came to the ninja's face, though he didn't openly acknowledge his amusement at Evan's lighthearted attitude. "As I said, you can go in. Lance is expecting you."

"Yeah, all right, all right," Mark said. He turned and opened the door, but as he was doing so leaned over to Jenna and said in a whisper, "He's still a nut job, don't you think?" The comment was easily audible to everyone, including Koga. But Evan simply acted as if it hadn't been said and led the way into the room, saying loudly, "Okay, young Miss Addamson and my wonderful wife Jenna are now here."

As Eve entered the room behind Evan, Mark, and Jenna, she saw some of the most recognizable faces in the world gathered around a large conference table, as well as a dozen others whom she didn't recognize. Faulkner she had battled once before, and Morty she had met briefly during her long stay in Ecruteak; both were among those gathered, and as gym leaders, they were both well known. The rest of the gym leaders appeared absent; apparently, this wasn't some huge strategy meeting they were intruding on. Cynthia was there, and she greeted the group with a smile as they entered, though she apparently didn't see it as her place to welcome them formally.

Bruno and Lance were immediately recognizable as well, even though Eve had never met them in real life. Bruno looked exactly the same as he did in every picture Eve had ever seen of him: he had long dark hair pulled back to keep it out of the way, he wore a ragged martial arts outfit, and his muscles were immediately noticeable even beneath his almost robe-like sleeves. Lance, for his part, was also keeping with his publicized image. He wore a dark outfit accented with dull shades of red, complete with a cape; his messy red hair was spiked up in a way that looked both natural and intimidating; and his face showed absolutely no sign of courtesy or friendliness.

Lance wasted no time on introductions. He stood as the group came in, told them to sit down in some of the extra chairs across the table from him, and sat back down as soon as they had taken their seats. Then he got right to the heart of the matter.

"I'm glad you both could made it back here," he said, though any sort of thing resembling gladness was well hidden in his expression, if indeed it was present at all. "I have reason to believe that both of you could have very important talents to lend to our cause. Jenna, if I may address you first: you are not a citizen of Johto, and I can compel you to do nothing."

"Darn right you can't," Jenna chimed in.

Lance ignored her and continued, "I also believe it would be foolish of me to try to force you to join the cause, since it is up for debate whether I could actually defeat you. However, we would very much appreciate your support, if you'd be willing to lend it. Will you?"

Jenna looked at her fingernails for a long while, then began biting at one of them. This hardly seemed the appropriate thing to do in front of someone like Lance. Then again, she'd never been inclined to apropos behavior, and perhaps she felt the need to show how far above Lance she felt. "I suppose I might stay for a while," she said between bites. "After all, I've never been in a war before. It sounds downright thrilling. What do you think, Evan?"

"Doesn't matter what I think, does it? You never listen to me anyway," he said good-naturedly. "Do as you want."

Lance took this as an affirmative, and so quickly turned his attention to Eve. "Eve, you can speak with pokémon and you have talked with the greatest of legends of Johto. I personally believe that you may have more tricks up your sleeve than you have let on to the general public, though this claim is complete speculation. So I ask you this: is there any way you can use your unique talents to help us bring about the downfall of a government of criminals and traitors?"

Eve had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she asked, "Use my talents? What do you mean?"

Bruno suddenly spoke up. "He wants you to summon a legendary pokémon for our use. We'd all like that, to be honest. We could practically end this civil war in one blow with the power of a pokémon like Lugia or Ho-Oh."

"But I can't do that," Eve responded without hesitation. "It's not like I can command any pokémon, nonetheless the legends. Ho-Oh would do nothing for us, I'm certain, and I doubt Lugia could be convinced to use her own powers for war. Even if I could, I wouldn't. I'm not sure why, but putting that kind of power into our hands for the purpose of war seems wrong." She quite conveniently forgot to mention that Suicune would be able and willing to come to her aid, more than likely.

Lance's piercing gaze seemed to bore into Eve's very soul as he looked at her with a disapproval that hadn't been present in his gaze before. "Miss Addamson, I don't think you quite understand your position in this war. Allow me to explain it to you.

"You and you alone are the spark that started this war ablaze. Your ability gave you a status in the world that was immediately intriguing and influential; your involvement in your campaign for pokémon rights turned that status into a tool for making people into extremists on both sides of the issue. Rocket Corporation – or Team Rocket, as they should be known – are the ones who used this to their advantage, but at its origin, you are the reason that at least a hundred people are dead already from the chaos of the takeover and the skirmishes that have followed.

"While it was admirable for you to stand up for what you believe to be right, you must realize that even the best intentions can lead to the most tragic of consequences. It is your duty both to your country and to your original cause to do what you can to help me and those following my commands to reclaim our homes and our lives.

"And you also must realize that not everyone fighting beneath me are people who supported you in your campaign and who will welcome you with open arms now. Most of the people gathered here hate you for bringing war to a region that has been involved in no conflict for as long as living memory can dictate. All of our lives have been ruined, because you gave Team Rocket the opportunity to gain enough support to take over." He paused here, as if to let his message sink in somewhat and hear Eve's response. He didn't seem to purposefully want to hurt Eve with these accusations; he was simply so determined to get what he wanted that he was willing to do whatever was needed to help his cause.

Eve had been struck speechless by what Lance had said so far, and so Lance continued his monologue. "Moreover, the five gyarados used to attack the legislature could not have spontaneously come into existence for Team Rocket's purposes. Clair, myself, and very few others have managed to train magikarp so that they could reach that potential. Only once have I met a wild gyarados. And I know for a fact that not a single gyarados lived in the Lake of Rage until your accident on its shores. I know also that not a single one lives there now; they were all captured soon after your escapades there. Undoubtedly, they are the pokémon used by Team Rocket now, and it would be difficult even for someone like me to fight them off, should they all be used at once against me.

"How you summoned these beasts into existence eludes my comprehension. My best guess is that the magikarp sympathized with your pain, and some of them were strong enough to use this as the spark of their evolutions. Whatever the case, your presence brought that power into the world and publicized it so that anyone with a brain could understand that there were five extremely powerful pokémon available for capture. You bear the responsibility for this as well.

"Lastly, it is your duty to serve your country. When you registered yourself as a trainer, you came under my authority. I forbid you to leave, even if the thought of true battle is distasteful to you.

"So with this all in mind – the hatred my subordinates feel for you, the culpability you bear for this entire conflict, and the aid you have already given to our opposition – I ask you again: do you have any abilities that could help us win this war?"

The whole room was quiet. Eve was completely stunned, and found herself still incapable of any sort of response. For that matter, she was hardly able to even take in all this information. It was too hard for her mind to grasp that it might really be true that she was the one responsible for this war.

Faulkner suddenly stood up, slamming his hands down on the table. "Lance, I cannot stand for this any longer. As desperately as we need to win this war, this sort of harassment should not happen. I battled Eve when she could barely be considered a trainer, yet through that battle and through her actions since then, she has earned my respect. At the very least, you must acknowledge that if she can't control the legends, then it would be more trouble than it's worth for us to try to capture and control them." This was bold of Faulkner, considering both his age and the difference in power between him and the dragon master.

Lance turned his glare to Faulkner. "I appreciate your comment. Yet everything I have said is true. Do you deny it?"

Faulkner lowered his glance, unable to meet Lance's eyes.

"I do recognize that the legends might destroy us if we try to use them," Lance continued. "That's not the kind of help I seek from Eve. I sense a dragon-like power within Eve, and it is at such a level that her ability to speak to pokémon alone could not explain it. I am convinced she has other powers that could be of use to us. So Eve, let me ask you one last time: is there anything out of the ordinary that you could do to help us?"

_I can make pokémon evolve, if that's what you mean, _she thought. True, that power was still relatively untested, and it was by no means 100% reliable; when Katsu had asked her to evolve his pokémon, only two out of the three that tried were able to evolve. Still, if those sorts of results could be replicated for all of the pokémon of trainers under Lance's command, then the increase in power would be almost unimaginable.

It was for this reason that Eve was hesitant to reveal her ability. Even if it could help to end the war faster, she couldn't help but think that it might also escalate the level of violence. How many pokémon and trainers of Team Rocket would die in the battles to come should she start evolving all the pokémon that she could? As she had understood it from the news reports she had heard briefly in Sinnoh, the skirmishes until now had been rather evenly matched. But if Lance increased his number of evolved pokémon fighting, then it seemed only logical that Team Rocket would pull out its heavyweights, like the five gyarados or strong pokémon like Brian had. Confrontations would simple become more and more violent.

Ultimately, the question that bounced about Eve's head was this: if she consented to evolving pokémon, would the level of violence and death really fall? Would it end the war more quickly?

She doubted it.

After a long silence during which she eventually stumbled upon this answer, she finally responded to Lance's question. "I'm sorry, Sir, but all I can do is talk to pokémon. Perhaps you underestimate how much power it takes to do even that?"

Lance rubbed his head thoughtfully. "Very well. If that's how you'll act, then so be it. If you have no special abilities, then we can at least put you and your powerful pokémon to use. You'll be sent to the front lines just south of Goldenrod City tomorrow, along with a number of other trainers. We have Blackthorn City, New Bark Town, and Cherrygrove City already under our control. Now that the flow of trainers seeking leadership has slowed and we have more or less reached the peak of our forces, Goldenrod is the next logical location to reclaim."

"You can't be serious, Lance," Mark said. Though he was using his calm political voice, Eve seemed to sense urgency in his manner. Tim was even flicking his tail in agitation. "The fighting will be fierce there. Unlike the other three cities we have control of, Team Rocket will not give up Goldenrod without a fight. Send her to Mahogany. Eve-"

"Is no better than any other trainer under my command, so long as pokémon speech is her only special talent," Lance said flatly. "She will get no special treatment. That is, unless you know of some ability that would be useful for us to keep her around the main base. Does she maybe share your tactical ability? Or is her connection to pokémon something deeper than mere words?"

Mark looked at Eve, an almost pleading gleam in his gaze. He had known the secret ever since Eve had let him in on everything around the time they had summoned Lugia, and he obviously wanted to tell Lance everything.

And though Eve was afraid of what true battle would be like, she didn't want to be the one to aggravate the conflict any further. Even if she would aggravate it for the side she deemed to be just.

"Lance, I already told you that I have no other talent," Eve said, knowing that Mark might speak even though he could tell that Eve didn't want the information spoken of. "I have better things to do than fight a war for a corrupt government against a corrupt government, but I see that you're not going to give me a choice. At the very least, let me work in first aid or something; I have experience helping at pokémon centers."

Lance shook his head. "We have plenty of help in that area already. We are in much more dire need of pokémon as strong as yours. Koga has already gone to get someone to escort you to the barracks for the night. I should tell you one last thing, though it is slightly irrelevant to the situation at hand: my cousin, the gym leader of Blackthorn City, is currently gone trying to win the support of other nations. When Clair returns, I suggest you avoid her; she knows that you have a dragon pokémon, and if she learns that I have not tested you by the standards of the society of the Den of Dragons, then she'll cause trouble that our resistance doesn't need. Just avoid her and you'll be fine.

"Anyway, I have important things to do now, so you may leave. Mark and Evan, you are more than welcome to continue your positions as part of this command and strategy center. Jenna, you are officially offered the same position, should you desire it."

Mark looked at Lance with absolute hatred; this was rare for him, since he was so used to keeping his cool when dealing with the many idiocies of politics. Yet as always, his voice remained neutral. "If you don't mind, I'll step out for a few minutes. Do excuse me." He quickly walked out of the room.

Eve bowed her head briefly to Lance even though her true thoughts about him weren't nearly as respectful, and then she followed Mark out the door.

As she stepped outside and let the door close behind her, she saw that Mark was standing out there, waiting for her. More importantly, however, there was someone else there with him. It was the person she had least expected to find here, of all places.

"Hope! Why are you here? And where have you been?" Eve said, for a moment forgetting her encounter with Lance. She wanted to hug Hope, yet knew that Hope really didn't consider them to be very good friends. In fact, she didn't consider anyone to be her friend, on any level. So a hug was sort of out of the question.

Hope shrugged. "I was training for a while. Then I came here when I heard that war had broken out. They were glad to have a seven-badge trainer to add to their forces. I'm part of the group that will be heading down to the front lines tomorrow. Koga told me to show you to the barracks."

"Not just yet," Mark said, looking around as if to see if anyone else was eavesdropping. No one else appeared to be in the hallway. "I need to talk with you privately, Eve. I've got a room to myself just down the hall; let's go there. Hope already knows about you, if I remember correctly, so she's welcome to come along."

The three walked down the hallway and eventually entered Mark's room. It was small, but he had it to himself; Eve got the feeling that having a private room was something only the more influential people received.

When the trio was inside, he closed the door and said, "Tim, are there any listening devices in here? Your awareness is better than mine."

The abra tapped his tail once against Mark's back. _Eve, would you tell him that there aren't any? I think they learned after the first time._

Eve related the information, and Mark quickly got to the reason for his secrecy.

"Eve, why didn't you just tell him that you can evolve pokémon? It would help our cause, and it would keep you out of danger," Mark said, with something resembling anger leaking into his voice.

"I'm not sure," she replied truthfully. "It made sense at the time… Maybe I just didn't like being bullied around by Lance. I guess it just seems wrong for me to do something like that for so many pokémon I don't know. Especially when they're only going to be used for war. I used to not even like regular battles… I don't think I could ever accept the idea of willingly helping in a true life-or-death battle. Though it looks like I'll be doing that anyway."

Mark ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "You see? You _will_ be helping this effort some way or another. At least do it in a way that doesn't put you in danger. And you can't have anyone's blood on your hands if you just evolve pokémon. You'll be helping, but it's ultimately them who are doing the damage."

"Maybe…"

"Not maybe. It's true," Mark said. "Let's go back to Lance right now and let him know that you're willing to do it to help the effort. Okay?"

Eve was about to respond that she was still unsure when a knock sounded at the door. Whoever was there opened the door a little so that he could be heard as he said: "Mr. Abra? Lance requests your presence back at the meeting room."

Surprisingly, Eve recognized the voice. "Katsu?" she asked incredulously.

The door opened wider, and sure enough, Katsu poked his head through the open space. "Eve? I heard rumors that you'd come today. So what's your position in the resistance? Will you be battling, or leading, or what? That is, if you don't mind me asking."

"That's just what we were discussing," Mark answered for her as he ushered Katsu in and closed the door behind him. "Eve, if I recall correctly, you said this guy – Katsu, did you say his name was? – anyway, he knows, right?"

Eve nodded. "I even evolved two of his pokémon, at his request. He knows it better than anyone, you might say. Why do you ask?"

"Then Katsu, you can help me talk some sense into Eve, since Hope obviously hasn't helped me at all," Mark said. "I'm sure that's probably why Lance sent you to get me. He knows more about Eve than he lets on. He's probably had someone following her since she started growing in fame. You don't normally deliver messages for him, do you?"

"No, not at all," Katsu said. "I hadn't even seen him in person until Koga called me into the meeting room just now. Anyway, what are you trying to convince Eve of?"

"If Eve will just reveal that she can evolve pokémon and then helps evolve pokémon for the resistance, then she won't get put on the front lines tomorrow," Mark answered. "Will you help her see just how much sense this plan has?"

Katsu thought about it for a few seconds, then answered, "The thing is, I'm not sure if it is a good idea. If it was just a matter of immediate situation, I might agree with the idea, despite the added bloodshed. I mean, whether we make our pokémon more powerful or not, there's still going to be bloodshed… As much as I hate it, that's a fact. I've never wanted to kill anything, even before recently; yet I came and joined the war with the logic that I might as well be helping the side that will lead to the greatest peace once the war is over."

"Exactly," Mark said. "So what flaw could you possibly find in her telling Lance?"

"It's just that… Well, to be honest, that doesn't seem like information you want being leaked to the general public, under any circumstances. If the rebellion knows what you can do, then Team Rocket will know what you can do. And then you'll be in danger all the time, Eve. Even if Lance keeps your identity a secret, I can't help but think what he would do with you after the war. Members of the Den of Dragons cult are notorious for being power-hungry. Would Lance just let you and your ability go?"

Mark rubbed his temples. "But none of that will matter if Eve is _dead_ tomorrow, will it?"

Katsu grinned and said unexpectedly, "You're really in love, aren't you?"

Eve blushed, but Mark answered unabashedly, "Yes, and she knows it, and yet she still can't seem to understand that I don't want her to die."

"You're being way too paranoid," Katsu replied, unperterbed by Mark's frank confession. "Eve has incredibly strong pokémon. If she's riding something as big as an arcanine the entire battle, then she'll have no troubles staying alive. I've been in a couple of skirmishes already, and though I don't have the best pokémon in the world, I haven't yet been so overwhelmed that I couldn't retreat to safety. Plus, I'll be there. I obviously can't say we're best of friends or anything, but I'll watch Eve's back so long as she's got mine. That is, if she decides to come." He looked at Eve expectantly.

Eve sighed and shut her eyes, as if she was about to meditate or something. "I've just been told I started a war, I know I have better things to do than fight and maybe get myself killed, and now I've got to make this stupid decision. To top it all off, riding on an aerodactyl half the day has left me pretty sore. And… Oh, never mind. Just forget it. Katsu, I'll have your back tomorrow. And yes, Mark, that's my final decision, and I'm sorry. Right now, I almost don't care if I do or don't get myself killed tomorrow. If I really started this war, then I probably deserve it." She opened her eyes, then turned her gaze to Hope. "Hope, you mind showing me to where I'm supposed to stay tonight or something? Or do you want to add your opinion to the argument?"

Emotionless as ever, Hope responded, "It doesn't matter to me. If you're done debating, we might as well go to our barracks. We've probably got a long day of battling to look forward to tomorrow."

* * *

I'm back! Sorry for the two week break. The first week I was working on my toothpick bridge for a science class, and this past week I've been playing Pokémon Black in my spare time. AND IT ROCKS! Seriously, I love it so much. Probably my favorite game in the main series pokémon games.

Anyway, about this chapter... For some reason, I was really, really amused by that little part concerning Koga and Evan. I reread it and realized it probably wasn't that funny, but a grin still comes to my face when I think about it. Just the idea of someone making fun of Koga, and then Koga actually appearing out of nowhere... I dunno. It just cracks me up. ^_^

I had a lot of fun writing Evan in general, even though he's changed quite a bit from the Evan in my other two short pokémon fanfics. But I had to really think about what kind of person could still put up with being married to Jenna after a decent number of years, and I guessed it had to be someone with a pretty decent sense of humor and an overall relaxed temperament. I mean, this is Jenna we're talking about; anything different and they probably would have tried to kill each other long before now.

And as for Lance... Well, I suppose we'll be seeing more of him later. He hopefully didn't sound too evil... But if you're leading a resistance movement, you can't exactly take no for an answer, can you?

Anyway, sorry again for the past couple weeks! And I promise I'll thank my new reviewers sometime soon, but for now, thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! (I'm kinda too tired to right now... In order to get this out on time, I've been staying up late the past couple nights to finish this chapter)


	34. War

**Chapter Thirty-Four: War**

_Did I really make the right choice yesterday? _Eve thought to herself as she held on tightly to the strong leather harness that some members of the resistance had made for Thistle. Below and around her, hundreds of other people were riding pokémon as well; those who didn't have pokémon big enough or fast enough for travel were riding with those who did. One of those people was riding just behind Eve, for that matter. But Eve was so wrapped up in her doubts that she hardly paid that girl any mind.

_I want our side to win. I don't want to cause bloodshed, but as Katsu said, there will be bloodshed no matter what I do. And the war can hopefully end more quickly if I help evolve the pokémon on our side. It will bring more violence, and that's the only thing I can't get my mind around… But even so, I'm starting to think that even that is worth it. Why was I so insistent on keeping Lance in the dark about my abilities? And why am I only doubting myself now, when it's practically too late to take back my decision?_

And though she asked herself these questions, she already knew the answers. Lance had been intimidating and overbearing yesterday; perhaps he had hoped to overwhelm Eve with his statements, but all she had felt was rebellion against accusations that she felt weren't completely fair, even though they were mostly true. Eve now realized that Lance was simply dedicated to his cause. He hadn't told Eve those things to be cruel. If that had been the case, he would have leveled the accusations before asking her to lend her abilities to the cause that first time. He had thousands of lives and the fate of a region resting on his shoulders; of course he was going to do what he could to gain any possibly advantageous abilities.

As for the question of her sudden doubts, this came from the fear of what was to come. She didn't want to shed anyone's blood, human or pokémon. Yet this was war, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew that she'd probably have to order her pokémon to kill. And though not truly afraid of death – just as no pokémon really dreaded death – she also admitted that she liked living, and that she didn't want to die now. After all, she had something important to do with her life. Even with the fear of battle reigning her mind, she still had the two feathers in her hair constantly tugging at her heart, urging her to find Life, Death, and Purpose as quickly as possible.

"Um, hello? Have you been listening to me?" The girl behind Eve suddenly said, breaking through Eve's thoughts.

Eve did her best to pull her mind out of her reverie. "Sorry, guess I haven't," she admitted. "I'm a bit nervous about the coming battle." She looked behind her as she talked to get a better idea of the person she was talking to.

The girl she found herself examining – Rose was her name, if Eve remembered correctly – was a teen probably a couple years younger than Eve. Her black hair streamed behind her in the back, but it was short in the front; and it had hot pink streaks died throughout its length. She wore a bright red off the shoulder top under the jacket that the resistance had issued her (which she kept unzipped despite the bitingly cold wind), and she wore a bright red skirt with black tights underneath. As Eve met Rose's eyes, she found herself startled to see that her irises were practically white, though she quickly surmised that this must be due to contacts of some kind. To top it all off, she wore her specially made extra small pokéballs as jewelry: two dangled from her ears, another was on a necklace, and one hung from a bracelet at her wrist. Her fifth and final pokéball had its place in a regular pokéball-holding belt.

"Don't worry about it," Rose replied. "Or I mean, I'm worried about the battle, too. Excited, but worried. I guess I'd be stupid not to be. I'm just trying to keep my mind off of it by talking; if you don't want to listen, then you don't have to."

"No, really, I'll listen. I need to keep my mind off of things, too. So what were you saying before?" Eve asked, trying to be friendly to the odd looking girl.

The girl smiled, obviously glad that Eve wasn't ignoring her to be rude. "I was just talking about how I always supported what you stood for before Rocket's coup, even though a lot of the people on our side aren't exactly all that thrilled that you showed up. I've always been pretty attached to my pokémon, though, so I think what you say makes sense."

"Thanks," Eve said, though the compliment didn't really have an impact on her. If anything, it just reminded her of how many people hated her right now.

"Anyway, what pokémon do you have?" Rose asked. "I know you've got that pikachu, since you always seemed to have him out whenever I saw you on TV… And of course, you have this aerodactyl. What else?"

"An arcanine, a bayleef, and a dratini," Eve answered. "How about you?"

Rose gestured to her right earring, and said, "Well, this is Nox. She's an umbreon. And this one-" she gestured to her left earring "-is Ignus. He's a flareon. And I have Glace the glaceon, too. Those three are my favorites. Then I have an eevee, though I haven't named him yet, and I've got a swellow named Volatil." As she mentioned each of these, she gestured to the pokéball in which it was contained.

"Isn't swellow a flying type pokémon?" Eve asked. "Why aren't you riding Volatil, then?"

"He's too small, as is any swellow. But so long as we're talking about that, why don't you have more passengers on Thistle? That's your aerodactyl's name, right?"

Eve nodded. "She's still pretty young. Barely five weeks old, believe it or not. I'm not sure what her endurance is, so I insisted on only one other passenger at most."

~I could have taken at least four, Eve!~ Thistle protested.

Eve loosened her grasp on one part of the harness and patted the prehistoric pokémon comfortingly. "I know, but I also don't want you exhausted when we have to battle. Speaking of which, Rose, could you explain to me more of what the strategy is? I mean, all they really told us this morning was to follow the orders of our respective troop commanders once we get there. And I'll be… I don't know, do I really have this right? They said I'll be switching pokémon with you, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Rose said. "I've only been in one battle so far, but really, we don't have much strategy. No one alive has ever conducted actual warfare, and the records of past wars don't really help us because of how Johto set up its army. Back when major wars happened more often, each country kept a standing army, and each member of that army specialized in either a type of pokémon or a size of pokémon.

"But since Johto's only army is made up of people who register as trainers, size and type tends to vary greatly even within a single trainer's party. That makes it difficult to make a good strategy, since a large group of other people's fire types or something like that isn't likely to listen to a single human giving commands. So we switch it up. I'll be riding Thistle; Volatil will fly nearby, and I'll have both Ignus and Glace riding with me, even though they don't get along very well. You'll have the rest of your pokémon and the rest of my pokémon with you on the ground. And as for the overall strategy… For the most part, it's just an all-out offensive. Neither side is organized enough to handle anything more complex than that."

Eve tried to take this information in; she'd always imagined war battles as extremely complex and tactical affairs. Could they really be going into this without any strategy? Perhaps she gave Lance too much credit. Maybe he wasn't doing his best to keep the resistance alive. Or maybe Rose was wrong, and the commanders did have a plan that they were simply waiting to tell their subordinates. If the information was spread too widely, then it would be easy for any Rocket infiltrators to reveal the plan and allow the main Rocket force to come up with countermeasures.

Before Eve could say anything in response, Thistle suddenly jerked upwards in the air, allowing something large and fast to pass just below them.

"Thistle, what was that?" Eve said, now hanging onto the harness for dear life as she tried to ignore the throbbing in her shoulder that had been provoked by the sudden motion.

~We're being attacked!~ Thistle answered.

"Look over there!" Rose said at the same time, pointing off towards the main body of the other flying pokémon. Towards the front of the group, many flying pokémon of all shapes and sizes were beginning to fight each other; the bird that had attacked Thistle had simply been a quicker pokémon able to dart through that front line. Rose continued, "We're not ready for this! In my other battle, we were well prepared for attack… Team Rocket shouldn't have enough forces mobilized here yet! Eve, I've got to get you back down to the ground, and then I've got to start fighting up here. It looks like they're fighting down there, too. Isn't your arcanine carrying people?"

Thistle screeched, excitement and anxiety both equally present in the bloodcurdling sound. ~I see Aiden! Should I bring you down to him?~

"Yes!" Eve said in response to both Rose and Aiden. Thistle closed her wings and angled herself downward, dropping like a stone for a ways before opening her wings back up and flapping powerfully in order to land; the pokémon and humans beneath her fled at the sound of her loud wing beats and fearsome shriek.

Aiden was waiting; apparently, all of the humans riding him had already disembarked so as to better use their own pokémon in battle. Eve jumped down as soon as Thistle touched ground, flinching as the force of the impact hurt her feet and jarred her already pained shoulder. Yet she ignored it and quickly climbed onto Aiden's back.

Before Thistle flew back up, Rose tossed two pokéballs down to Eve. "Remember, you don't have to use all your pokémon at once! Rotate them in and out so they can have a chance to rest!" As she said this, she quickly let out her swellow (who immediately began circling to ward off any attackers, though the battle wasn't too intense here at the back of the convoy). He was soon followed by her flareon and glaceon, who took their places on Thistle's back at either side of Rose. "Anyway, I'll be off! Be careful!" Thistle took this as her cue, and she flapped her powerful wings to regain her altitude, taking advantage of the distraction Volatil made among any attacking bird pokémon.

Eve turned her attention to the people and pokémon around her; since she was at the back of the army, none of them were battling yet. Most of them, however, were rushing forward to help the unlucky soldiers who had been in the front of the convoy when the surprise attack had occurred. Eve quickly made her decision as to what pokémon to start out with.

She let out Basil first and positioned him at the top of Aiden's head, ordering him to fire off thunderbolts at any pokémon not wearing the bright red bands that had been handed out before leaving for battle; each of Eve's pokémon was wearing one as well. Though the bands made it easy for the enemy to target them, it at least prevented any confusion as to who exactly was enemy and who was friend. Eve sent out Hannah next, thinking that her quick thinking could be of use. Finally, she picked one of Rose's pokéballs and released the pokémon inside: Nox, her umbreon, was the one to appear.

"All right, everyone, let's go! Stick together!" Eve said. "And as much as I hate it, remember to attack the enemy trainers when possible – but kill them only if you can't incapacitate them through a less fatal injury." This was the order she had received from her commander before leaving, and as much as she hated to repeat it, she knew it was the only way to conduct a battle of this magnitude and gravity.

All of her pokémon knew more or less what was going on, and accepted Eve's orders without comment; she had briefed them the night before that they would be at the very heart of the war. Even Nox was hardly troubled by a strange trainer giving her orders. Perhaps she'd had to deal with it before, in the previous altercation she'd been involved in.

They rushed forward as a team and soon found themselves in the very heart of the battle. But unlike a true trainer-versus-trainer battle, this battle was absolute chaos. Pokémon and people were all over the place, and it was only due to the quick commands of trainers and the sharp perceptiveness of the pokémon that kept friend from attacking friend in the fray.

Eve seemed only to see it in bits and pieces, so focused was she on simply staying on the back of her quick-moving arcanine. A marill and a heracross attacked from behind; Nox and Hannah reacted quickly and attacked the marill before much damage could be done, while Aiden jumped away, turned, and blasted the heracross with fire. Meanwhile, a noctowl swooped down low, trying to kill or capture one of the trainers focused on ground battle. Basil shot off a thunderbolt, and though the attack missed, the bird quickly flew back up to the sky battle in order to avoid any other wary electric types.

It took Eve about thirty minutes to get used to this constant give-and-take battling. By this time, she was switching out her pokémon much more often; though this sometimes meant that they lost their momentum, it greatly improved on their overall performance in the long run. Despite this, switching out couldn't really heal them, and wounds started to accumulate: a torn leaf there and a small gash there really added up by the time an hour had passed.

Yet despite this, there were two pokémon Eve very rarely recalled to their pokéballs. The first was Aiden. Thanks to his size, power, and incredible physical endurance, he really didn't need to rest at all. More important than that, though, was the fact that Eve's shoulder wasn't as healed as she thought it had been; she was afraid that her own energy would drain much too quickly if she was on the ground and had to try to dodge every pokémon around her. The other pokémon she kept out was Basil, since he was rarely directly in the action. Instead, he fired off thunderbolts at any nearby bird pokémon, doing his best to protect for both Eve and all the other trainers around her.

But after a while, everything was getting to be too much for Eve, her pokémon, and their allies. ~I can't keep this up! We need to fall back!~ Basil said as he shot off thunderbolt after thunderbolt. ~The forces of land bound pokémon are evenly matched, but we've been way outnumbered by flying pokémon since the beginning! I can't hold them off for much longer – you're going to get hurt!~

Eve knew he was speaking the truth. "But we can't leave yet! We have to wait for the retreat order. If everyone just leaves on their own, it'll be worse than it is now."

~But Eve, your commanders are nowhere to be seen!~ Aiden growled as he dodged a water gun attack from a wooper. Eve flinched at the movement; the raw, burned wound on her shoulder had opened up again from the stress. ~They weren't prepared for the attack in the first place, and I doubt anyone knows the chain of command! You barely have any less experience in war than most of these humans!~

"That doesn't change the fact that-"

~Eve! Get down!~ Basil shouted. But both the warning and the thundershock he tried to charge up come too late. He'd been too busy attacking a dive-bombing gligar to notice a fearow skimming over the battle at as high a speed as it could manage. The fearow's trainer saw the opening and took advantage of it.

Before Eve could comprehend what Basil was shouting about, she felt long, sharp talons dig into her skin. One of the claws latched into one of her arms, just next to the shoulder; the other dug in below Eve's fire fang wound, making its already painful grasp even more agonizing.

So quickly did this happen that Eve was just starting to cry out in pain when she felt herself lifted from Aiden's back. She felt an electric attack quickly follow as Basil tried to shoot the fearow out of the sky before it could gain any altitude; however, he'd rushed the charging so much that Eve, the fearow, and the fearow's trainer barely noticed the attack.

Eve instinctually tried to struggle for a few moments, but quickly realized that what little movement she could manage only caused the fearow's talons to dig deeper and deeper into her flesh. She almost blacked out for a moment after that initial exertion. When she came fully to her senses again (albeit senses clouded from the pain), she saw that she was towards the bottom of the aerial stage of the fight, and the fearow was dodging attackers and slowly but surely making its way back to the safety of its own side. Once there, Eve knew that she would be dropped off and that the fearow and its trainer would return to either kill or capture more of Eve's allies.

She didn't have much hope; though it was difficult for the fearow to make it back to its camp, it was by no means impossible. And eight or nine of the New Johto's other aerial forces were lending it a hand, fighting off any bird pokémon that tried to interfere. This escort seemed extraordinarily large compared to what Eve had observed earlier on in the battle, but she noticed this only dimly. Most of Eve's thoughts were occupied on her prospects of survival.

_Even if my allies could break through, the fearow will let me fall to my death before handing me over, _she thought through the pain as she glimpsed a large grouping of humans and pokémon on the ground some distance in front of them. They weren't battling; this had to be where Rocket was guarding its injured and its hostages. The old Johto's army probably had one back behind its lines as well, ready to lead the retreat should the battle turn too hopeless.

A screech suddenly filled the sky, coming from somewhere just above Eve and her hostages. The sound had a different effect on each of its listeners. A primal feeling of terror and dread entered those who were guarding Eve. Eve, on the other hand, felt her nearly depleted hopes surge with new energy. She knew that screech anywhere.

The fearow unexpectedly dropped several feet, as if some new weight had just dropped onto its back. It unclenched its talons and Eve felt herself begin to plummet. She screamed hoping that someone – be they enemy or ally – would catch her before she landed.

Her scream did not go unanswered. Another hair-raising screech cut through the air, and Eve felt two muscular, bird-like feet close around her body, large enough to completely encase her torso.

Before Eve had a chance to thank Thistle or ask her if she was all right after battling in the sky for so long, the five-week-old flying type somehow flew upwards and then upside-down in a loop maneuver. This was one of the tricks that Flame had taught her during training, and only five of the nine pokémon trying to fight her were able to keep up with the prehistoric pokémon. Eve saw Volatil the swellow out of the corner of her eye as they finished the loop, fighting off some of these persistent enemies; those that got past Volatil and got to Thistle hardly had any success in defeating her and trying to get her to drop Eve.

Even with her claws full, the aerodactyl's rage and size combined were enough to keep any number of the smaller, more fragile birds at bay. When they attacked at her vulnerable eyes and nose, she whipped her head back and forth and bit at the attackers. When they dove at her feet in an attempt to dispatch Eve, she beat her wings all the harder, sending downdrafts that made it difficult for light birds to fly.

Eve watched in amazement as Thistle managed to pull up just beneath the fearow even while fighting off all these attackers. Rose had somehow managed to jump onto the small space on the fearow's back just behind the trainer, and she now had a knife to the trainer's throat. This was undoubtedly why the fearow was flying so smoothly and evenly, making it easy for Thistle to keep pace.

As soon as Rose caught sight of her ride, the sixteen-year-old let her knife dig into the enemy trainer's neck, then dove off and grabbed onto the crisscrossing leather straps of Thistle's harness. Eve didn't see the actual murder, but she saw the fresh blood that colored the blade in Rose's hand when she jumped down. She also saw the body fall off the fearow's back, and she watched the fearow dive after its dying trainer. This was the first and only good look Eve got of the trainer that had tried to take her hostage.

He was a boy hardly any older than Rose.

It was a gruesome and tragic sight, yet Eve was already numbed to the horror of it. The battle had been going on for nearly an hour, she guessed, and that hour had been filled with so much blood and death and sadness that Eve had had no choice but to learn to shrug off each death she saw and turn to her next opponent, ready to either kill or be killed.

"Hey, Eve!" Eve heard Rose shout down to her, though she was hard to hear due to the wind around them and the exhaustion apparent in her voice. "I'm not sure if you're awake now or how much you can see if you are, but the retreat has finally been called! And it looks like Rocket has taken heavy enough damages that they're not pursuing us to any great extent. Still, we need to cover the retreat, so you'll need to hang in there a little longer! Okay?"

"All right!" Eve shouted back, though her voice was hoarse from her previous screams. A thought was nagging at her mind, though, and so to ease her worries, she added, "Thistle, can you find Aiden and the others and let them know I'm okay? I think they'll retreat with the others, but…"

Thistle dove down in response, her sharp eyes easily picking out the huge figure of Aiden in the crush of fleeing people and pokémon. She swooped a little lower and quickly screeched out the message before flying back up to attack some of the flying enemies that were still engaged in battle. Aiden and the others presumably got the message, but before Eve could shift her body enough to see the ground, she finally blacked out.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When Eve awoke, she found herself in a place so familiar that it was surprising. She looked around her and saw her room, just as she'd left it those months ago when she'd set out with Basil. Her T.V., her shelves filled with various souvenirs and gifts and random items, her closet with all the clothes she couldn't take along… All of it. Everything else in her life had changed drastically in some way, so waking up to such sameness was almost beyond her tired mind's understanding.

And though the room itself was the same, there was no way Eve could fool herself into thinking that everything up until then had been a dream. Firstly, the pain in her shoulders was great enough that she didn't even need to move to feel as if claws were ripping through her arm and shoulder once again. And secondly, two other people were in the room.

The first was on a cot on the little free floor space there was in Eve's room. At first Eve saw only the body, which was covered by a blanket; but when she sat up somewhat her eyes fell upon the easily recognizable visage of Hope. The long scar that divided her face hadn't faded much with time, and her almost purple-tinted black hair was only slightly longer than when she and Eve had first met. In essence, the Hope she saw now and the perhaps slightly tidier Hope she'd met with yesterday appeared no different than the Hope she had met in the woods all those months ago.

When Eve had sat up to see who was in the cot, she had attracted the attention of the other person in the room. "Oh, Eve, you're up," Rose said, turning away from the pokéballs she'd been messing with on the top of Eve's dresser. She was wearing a jeans and a t-shirt (much more practical than her previous outfit), which made her look almost… average. "I just came to get my pokémon back, and give you Thistle back. Sorry if I woke you." The girl had prominent shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept well in the last day or so; she seemed somehow different from the anxious but prepared girl whom Eve had flown with into battle.

"No, it's no problem," Eve said dimly. "But, um, could you tell me what exactly happened since the retreat was sounded? I think I blacked out sometime right after that. And why are we in my house?"

Rose looked surprised at this news. "This is your house? I didn't know. Probably no coincidence they housed you here, then. Here in Cherrygrove City we've appropriated some houses for the army's use, with appropriate compensations for the owners, of course. We've been using this neighborhood for about a week now. If I remember correctly, the owners of this house – your parents, I suppose – were out of the country when the coup occurred. Otherwise I would've seen them around here, probably checking in on the house."

_Makes sense,_ Eve thought to herself. _Dad's always gone on archeological digs, and mom had been talking about taking a trip to visit him sometime soon. I think she said he was in Unova right now or something. _"So how about everything since the battle? What happened?"

"I was getting to that," Rose said as she sat down tiredly on the end of Eve's bed. "It was… it was bad. Not catastrophic to the army as a whole, of course, but a lot of the people I'd met in the past week or so are dead now. And that battle was even more chaotic than how war battles usually are… The battle ended yesterday, and we retreated all the way here to Cherrygrove – where we have plenty of fresh units to watch our backs – but a lot of us keep on looking over our shoulders, it seems.

"It would've been even worse, but Thistle really helped. I mean, think of it this way: even weak bird pokémon are tough to catch, due to how fast they are. It takes skill and time to train those birds into stronger, evolved birds large enough to carry humans. But even the largest bird pokémon I can think of can't match up to Thistle. She was easily the biggest thing in the sky yesterday."

Eve nodded silently and then, without looking at Rose, said, "Thanks for saving me yesterday, by the way. I know how dangerous it was to jump on that fearow's back."

Rose smiled graciously, though something grim seemed to glimmer in her eyes. "I couldn't just not save you. Thistle never would have let me. And if I hadn't jumped onto the fearow's back, I was afraid Thistle would've just attacked the fearow directly in her rage, regardless of the fact that you were in its claws. I guessed that my weight would either force the fearow to drop you – in which case Thistle was ready to grab you, I made sure – or else I could threaten the trainer and force the fearow to let you down on Thistle's back."

There was silence. Both of their minds had wandered to the same subject, and it was something that neither of them wanted to speak of. Nonetheless, it was Eve who eventually broached the subject. "Hey, Rose. Was that… your first time? You know, um…"

"Killing someone? Yes, it was," Rose said, a somewhat haunted look in her eyes. "I didn't think I could safely jump onto Thistle's back with that guy still as a hostage. It's for situations like that that we all were given knives before leaving for battle. They're for when pokémon just can't be deadly enough. You got one too, right?"

"Yeah," Eve said, her mind not really on the question. She just couldn't comprehend the situation that brought one teenager to murder another. She didn't want to comprehend it, especially since she knew it was at least partly her fault. And she didn't want to think about how that one quick slice would affect the girl in front of her mentally for years to come. That is, if she survived that long.

Rose seemed to guess the thought. "Don't worry about me. I did what I had to do… I wish I hadn't needed to, but considering the circumstance, I don't regret it. I'm young enough that I wouldn't have had to join this emergency army if I hadn't wanted to. But I wanted to protect this country."

There was silence again. Then Eve said, "So what comes next? Do we have to go back and fight again? I don't think Lance will give up Goldenrod so easily."

"I'll be going back, along with as much of our unit that can manage it. You and that girl" – here Rose gestured to Hope – "and quite a few others will be going back to Indigo Plateau to recuperate before getting sent into battle again. We're not so desperate that we'll keep you fighting with wounds like that. If rumor's right, then Lance is sending quite a few other units to help out, as well as several of the gym leaders. He'd have to be one stupid champion to not send us Faulkner after yesterday's aerial beating. Anyway, I'd best be going; those of us who are uninjured are running drills in just a few minutes to try to prevent the pandemonium of yesterday. Get well soon." She stepped out of the door and shut it behind her, but before Eve could think of what she should do next, the door opened again and Rose briefly poked her head in.

"On second thought, take your time on the getting well thing. As much as we need Thistle, you probably don't want to return to that sort of pokémon battle anytime soon."

* * *

First off, I want to start out this little post-chapter note by saying that Rose is NOT my own original character. Luxord's Xigbar is the one who came up with her, and sent me a message seeing if I'd put her in my story, at least for a while. ^_^ Though she'll be out of the story for now, she might come back in later. I did like writing Rose, so for that, thank you Luxord's Xigbar!

Secondly, sorry for the delay on this chapter. For the last eight days or so (however long it's been since the first missed update), hasn't let me update my pokémon story. And that's the only one that had a problem. Anyway, seems to be working again; and though I didn't need to use it in the end, thanks to PantherX14 for giving me a tip to try and fix it!

And to all those who have reviewed recently (including, but not limited to: Delicious Tree, The Warrior of Many Faces, Oldenmw, QuoteMyFoot, The Silent Insomniac, rioluaura, Luxord's Xigbar, Apocalypse Survivor, PantherX14, PokemonLuverSammy, Redemption Warrior, MyPirate461, CristinaV, and dsiuserhere): THANK YOU! All of you rock, and if it weren't for the fact that that's how many people have reviewed in the last two chapters alone, I would try to personalize this thanks a little more. But really, I'm getting everything from intense criticism to equally intense praise, and I want to thank all of you for taking the time for whatever you've reviewed about the story! ^_^


	35. Changes of Heart

**Chapter Thirty-Five: Changes of Heart**

"Mom, really, I'm fine!" Eve said. She was sitting in a small room made especially for making calls to those outside the command of the Old Johto Army (as Lance's forces were officially being called), and she was doing her best to calm her frantic mother down. "I came back here of my own free will, after all. I wanted to help." Also in the room as a man with his ear to a phone of his own, listening intently to make sure that Eve didn't pass on any sensitive information.

"But two weeks of rest after an injury? What exactly happened?"

Eve sighed. She knew she should have called her mother before coming back to Johto, just to let her know what she had been planning. She hadn't been able to contact her even once since arriving here, due to the tight restrictions that Lance and his council placed on contact with all people outside of the war effort.

"My shoulder's just got a little banged up, is all. Really, Mom. The muscles still feel a little tight now, and the spinarak silk bandaging is kind of annoying. But there's a really nice chansey here that knows heal pulse, so it's healing really quickly. I was officially released from the hospital ward today, and I'll be entering into the training routine of another unit tomorrow. I'll be back on duty in no time."

Though glad that the wounds were healing, this was the last thing Eve's mother wanted to hear. "Return to duty? But you'll just get hurt again, or killed! Even your father is worried about you; if he was here right now, I'm sure he'd want to speak with you. But really, dear, why don't you come to Unova? Your father started renting an apartment here when he heard about the trouble in Johto, and that's where we're both staying now. Surely-"

"Mom, there's no way that Lance is letting anyone desert the army," Eve replied, though she wished she could just go along with her mother's suggestion. _"_Anyway, I don't think I'll have to be fighting anymore. I'm planning, on, um… requesting to be transferred as an aide to the healing staff, based on my work in pokémon centers."

"You really are a terrible liar, Eve. You always have been," her mom answered. Her voice was tired, as if her worry had exhausted her to the point that she didn't even wish to talk anymore. "Either you don't intend on doing that, or you know it won't work. I can't force you to tell me the truth, but… Whatever you're doing, please be careful. For both my sake and the sake of your father."

The man listening to the conversations made gestures telling Eve to wrap up the conversation. She reluctantly obliged. "All right, Mom. I will. I'll see you again once all this craziness is over. Love you."

And the weary and worried – yet still care-filled – voice replied, "I love you too, Eve."

The man who had been listening quickly hurried Eve out of the room before she could even fully place the phone back on the table in front of her. There were more people who wanted to call loved ones, of course, and she had to give way for them; even so, Eve simply wished that she could have spoken with her mother for a little while longer.

Eve's disappointment changed to surprise when she found Hope waiting for her just outside the door. Unless she had orders to meet Eve here, it seemed odd that she would go out of her way to see her. Then again, this was no odder than her behavior during the last week. After her fractured ribs had healed enough to let her fall back into one of the army's units for strategy and teamwork training, she'd still been coming back to see Eve every other day.

She never said much during these short visits. She'd make a comment about how nice it was to train against the strong wild pokémon of Indigo Plateau, perhaps, or ask Eve when she would be done healing. Then she'd leave as quickly as she came. Up until these visits, Eve had never seen Hope show even the slightest bit of care about anything other than training. Eve's best guess was that maybe Lance or Mark were subtly trying to get Hope to convince her to use her evolving power rather than fight, but that Hope was too uncaring to do much more than drop by Eve's room and say a few words.

"You told your mother that you weren't returning to battle," Hope said flatly as she began to lead the way down the labyrinthine hallways, unashamed that she had been eavesdropping. The door had been thin, so Eve doubted she had purposefully been listening in; it had probably just happened if she'd been waiting just outside.

Eve looked at her curiously. "Yeah. What about it? I didn't want her to worry."

"Is it true? Not the healing part, but the not returning to battle."

Still confused about Hope caring enough to ask questions, Eve was thrown a bit off her guard. Especially since Hope had hit on the truth concealed behind the lie. "Well… Yes, it's true," Eve replied after a few seconds of mental debate. "I really don't know why I didn't tell Lance what I can do in the first place. I guess maybe I just didn't like him threatening me like that… And it also felt somehow wrong for me to use my skill to make pokémon stronger killers. But after really being out there, in the thick of things…" Goosebumps crawled up her skin at the mere memory. "It was horrible. I was so scared, both for my pokémon and myself. And it makes some sense to say that if we have stronger pokémon, the war might possibly be ended with fewer casualties. I'm going to talk with Mark this evening, and he'll hopefully get me in to see Lance."

"Would you train with me before you do that?" Hope asked as they turned a corner into the large main entrance of the Pokémon League. People bustled to and fro here in this principal gateway to all other parts of the massive building.

This question also caught Eve off her guard. Never before had Hope asked her to battle. "Why?" Eve asked.

Hope shrugged. "You've gotten stronger since I met you. I want to defeat strong pokémon and strong trainers. There aren't many people here who have pokémon like your own. And those who do won't waste their precious free time with even more training."

"Well, I've got my pokémon with me now. Where do you want to battle?" Eve said, unable to think of any reason not to train. If anything, she liked the idea of hanging out with Hope for a while, even if Hope would be constantly focused on fighting during that time. "We could go to one of the arenas-"

"That's not enough space for an aerodactyl or arcanine to reach its full potential," Hope cut in. "We'll go outside. There's a large clearing I found that's perfect for training."

Trainers were encouraged to do training within the wide boundaries of the Old Johto Army's Indigo Plateau base; this kept the arenas from filling with too many battles, and it encouraged trainers to perhaps capture some of the powerful pokémon in the area. Eve knew that Hope had been training for the past week or so out there, so she was probably right about the clearing being perfect.

And something clicked in Eve's mind at that thought. _This must be why she kept checking in on me,_ she guessed. _She just wanted to battle me all this time. And she'd want to do it right now, before Lance starts working me to the bone with evolving pokémon._

So the two girls headed to leave through the main gates. Before they could walk out, though, they were stopped by a pair of guards.

"You need to show identification and give reason for absence before leaving for any amount of time," explained one of them, a man who looked to be past his fighting prime. Which would be why he was stuck with guard duty rather than taking part in the military movements that occupied most of the Old Johto Army's focus.

Eve and Hope pulled out their trainer cards while Hope explained, "We're going out to train before dinner. We'll be out for a couple hours. We'll be back no later than sundown, I guess."

"I've seen that girl before; she knows the routine," said the other guard as she examined the IDs carefully. She was a woman who looked somewhat older than the man next to her. Still, her voice was no less sharp as she said, "Soldier Eve, do you know the rules for training outside?"

Eve shook her head.

The woman guard went over to a nearby table, grabbed a couple of small radio communicators not unlike walkie-talkies, and handed one each to Eve and Hope.

"These are for communicating with us in case of emergency. You must keep them with you at all times," the woman began. The speech was clearly rehearsed, but she said it with a dead serious expression on her face. "Just press the button on the side. We'll contact you if you stay out any later than curfew at ten, and order you back; if you don't respond, even if you're on your way back, then repercussions will follow. Each of you must keep at least one pokémon out at all times. Also, if you wander too close to our outermost boundaries, you'll be given a warning on the communicator from one of our many aerial border guards or ground patrols. You got all that?"

"Yeah," Eve said.

"Then one last thing," the woman said. "Lance wants us to let everyone know that the borders are very fiercely guarded, and that our troops will deal with enemies and deserters with equal severity if need be. Now you can be on your way."

Eve couldn't help but think that that last part might have been aimed at her specifically, though she knew that in actuality there were probably plenty of trainers who would run from the war if given the opportunity. She quickly let the idea fade from her mind, though, as she let out Basil and enjoyed being outside for the first time in two weeks.

As soon as Basil was out, he asked with concern, ~How are your shoulders doing?~

Eve looked down at the tiny pikachu and smiled, scooped him up in her arms, then roughly rubbed him on the forehead where the faint mark from Raikou's power transfer still remained. "I'm well enough that I can do this. Then again, that hardly means anything when I'm picking up someone as small as you." She felt absolutely energized to be outside, and couldn't help but feel like she might've been cured days earlier if only she'd had a chance to let the cool light of the autumn sun touch her skin for a minute or two. Though she shivered due to the breeze that blew through the bare branches of the trees on the plateau, it was a good kind of chill that she felt.

Basil felt her energy and squirmed out of her arms mischievously, jumping back to the ground. ~Hey! I take offence to that! After all, who needs size when you've got lightning power like me? Anyway, what's going on? Why are we following Hope and Houndoom?~

Eve looked up and saw that Houndoom had indeed been Hope's pokémon of choice as they started their trek to the clearing. "Hope was wanting to have a friendly battle with us for a bit. You up for it?"

~I'm up for anything right now,~ he said, sparks flying from the red electricity pouches on his cheeks. ~I'm just glad you're feeling better. Anytime you've let me out these last two weeks, you've seemed kind of down.~

He said this last bit with such concern that Eve thought it her duty to cheer him up a little. Besides, he would've found out her plans soon enough. "Actually, I'm just happy because I doubt I'll have to fight anymore. I'm going to tell Lance how I can help – you know, with evolving. I told you about how he wanted me to do this when I first came here, right?"

~Yeah. He sounded like a jerk, but if this will keep you away from any more stupid fearow, then I think you might as well cooperate with him,~ Basil said. ~So how far are we going, exactly?~

"That's a good question," Eve said cheerily, as if it didn't matter whether it'd be five minutes or five hours until they reached their destination. "Hope, how long until we get to where we're going?"

"Maybe another hour or two, if we keep walking," Hope said. "It's actually off of the plateau itself and down in a valley. Normally I ride houndoom there or get pidgeotto to fly me down the mountain."

Eve frowned, trying to picture the latter method of transportation. "But isn't Pidgeotto too small for that?"

"She can't carry me on her back, or for any great distance. But if I grab onto her talons, she can manage a brief flight up or down the mountain. Most flying pokémon are stronger than you'd imagine." She paused for a moment or two, then said, "If you want, we could ride your aerodactly there. I'll just tell her where to go."

Eve reached into her pouch and pulled out Thistle's pokéball. "If the clearing is so far away, you should've just asked me sooner." So she let out Thistle. Hope returned her houndoom for the moment being, and both girls climbed onto the prehistoric pokémon's back. Riding Thistle, the would-be hour or two journey turned passed in only a couple minutes. The clearing itself wasn't really so far away. Sure, it was out of sight of Indigo Plateau, but it was still a ways away from even the inner rings of aerial and ground boundary patrols.

As soon as they landed, Eve returned Thistle to her pokéball, and Hope let out Houndoom once again. Basil was still out and Eve was planning on using him first, so it seemed as if they'd start the battle just as soon as they moved to opposite sides of the clearing. Yet before they could do this, a voice called out from the trees at once edge of the clearing.

"Hey, Hope! Is that you? Who'd you bring with you? Care to introduce me?"

Eve jumped somewhat in her surprise. She hadn't expected anyone to be here. She turned to look and saw a young man in his late twenties coming towards them. He had brown hair and hazel eyes, he was a bit taller than Hope (and therefore a lot taller than Eve), and to Eve he seemed to be a naturally unassuming guy. Behind him was a powerful-looking kadabra, though despite its power, it looked somewhat tired.

Hope didn't turn to face the newcomer, and for the briefest of moments her eyes actually flashed with some sort of emotion. Anger, perhaps? Or annoyance? Either way, Hope didn't act any differently as she said, "Eve, this is Zach. I think he's part of the 21st unit. He's the one who showed me this place."

"Nice to meet you, Eve," Zach said in a friendly tone, though Eve suddenly seemed to hear something else in his voice. She quickly passed off the undertone as nothing, though; he seemed like such a nice guy that she doubted he was anything else but friendly.

"Nice to meet you, too," Eve said. "If we're bothering your training, then we can go somewhere else. We were just about to battle."

The man shook his head. "No, don't worry about it. Me and my kadabra have been training for long enough. Besides, I bet this would be a fun battle to watch if Hope thinks you're strong enough to bother with. Plus, you're that girl that was always on the news, right?"

"Yeah," Eve admitted sheepishly, half embarrassed and half worried that maybe this Zach guy numbered among the people who hated her guts right now. That would explain the almost malevolent tone that Eve had thought she'd heard in his voice a moment ago. "I really didn't expect for-"

She was suddenly silenced as a sticky blob of something hit her straight on the mouth, gumming her mouth completely shut without covering up her nose at all. It hit her with the force of a punch, causing her to stagger; as she tried to right herself, she unconsciously let go of the communicator she had been carrying in her right hand since leaving the plateau.

Before she could understand what the stuff stuck over her mouth was, she found herself falling to the ground as a slightly less forceful, more spread-out attack managed to cover her entire body in gluey threads, pinning her legs together and her arms against her torso.

_It's a spider web attack_, Eve though to herself quickly, trying to piece together what was going on. _Like what a spinarak would use. But why would a wild spinarak or ariados be attacking me?_

She was lying on her side now, completely incapable of any movement aside from the slight wriggling of her body and turning her head from side to side. One of her hands was slightly free, and she instinctively tried to grab a thread and rip it apart. But the threads were too strong, and the little grip that she had on the single strand wasn't enough to snap it.

Nearby, another web sped through the air, pinning Basil to the ground. At least, that's what Eve thought for a moment. But as she watched, the threads went through the image of Basil and stuck themselves uselessly to the ground, causing the mirage to disappear.

_Thank goodness Basil's more alert than I am,_ Eve thought to herself as she moved her head and saw Basil standing at the ready a few meters away. _That double team was the most convincing I've ever seen him do, even if it was only one illusion for a short amount of time. _It was a strange attack that Basil hadn't been able to truly master until recently; it combined his great agility and speed with the energy-based principles of his substitute attack, making it more complex a move than most people realized.

At this point, Eve wasn't worried. Basil was strong and fast; he'd be able to deal with the attacker (wherever it was) easily enough. Not to mention, Hope and Zach were here. They would surely be jumping to help any second. Everything until now had just gone so quickly that they must not have had the chance to react yet, she reasoned.

So she wriggled her body and turned her head until she caught sight of Hope and Zach standing together a ways away. And only now did Eve realize that the situation was more serious than she had guessed, for neither the two humans nor their two currently active pokémon seemed even surprised by this attack. They weren't leaping to the rescue.

In fact, as Eve sat there watching them, she heard Hope say casually to Zach, "I still think a sleep powder attack would have been better. Could've guaranteed to have both Eve and the pikachu out at once."

"But that takes too long to take effect; she easily could have radioed for help, and we would have been hard pressed to get away then," Zach argued. "Anyway, Pikachu, there's no use battling right now. You might as well come with us quietly, just like your trainer will be doing in a few moments."

Basil sparked with absolute rage and stood his ground. ~I can't believe this! Hope betrayed us! There's no way I'm just giving up without a fight!~

Eve was now confused beyond belief about what was going on and why. All she knew was that the situation was bad. She thought that maybe – just maybe – Basil might be able to pull off some miracle and defend her, or at least make enough noise during a battle to draw the attention of any trainers that might possibly be nearby.

Zach's eyes narrowed as he saw that Basil was not going to cooperate. "Fine. We can't afford to make a scene here. Hope, eliminate it quickly."

For once, Hope's brows actually knitted together slightly, as if she had some problem with this command. Nonetheless, she walked forward and stood just behind her houndoom, who was facing down Basil at a distance of maybe ten meters. Her spinarak crawled out of some nearby bushes and joined her; the bug must have been waiting here with Zach this entire time, poised to use her incredible web skills to rapidly incapacitate Eve.

Eve tried to shout out, to give some sort of sign to Basil that she didn't want him to fight. Not if they were actually willing to kill him, at least. Her mouth was covered too completely to form any words, but Basil twitched his ear in recognition. Yet he didn't back down.

Hope stood solemnly next to her houndoom and spinarak, but didn't yet give the command to attack. Instead, she turned her once again emotionless gaze to Basil and said, "Team Rocket wants to scar Eve emotionally by having an excuse to kill you. To make her more malleable for their own purposes. Do you want that?"

"Hope!" Zach shouted in warning. "You go too far. Do your job, and let's be done with it."

Basil met Hope's eyes, and stared back at her without hatred. Determination was the only thing that lit his eyes with the desire for battle. ~Eve, I know you don't want me to battle.~

_Of course I don't! Even if Hope was the only one here, you'd still get killed! _But of course, this came out only as grunts and muffled yells.

~Still, I think there's a chance I can draw some attention to us,~ Basil continued, ignoring what he knew Eve was trying to communicate to him. ~There's got to be someone close enough to see. All we need is some backup. So Eve, I have to try. And even if it doesn't work… Well, I'm nine years old. That's about half of a pikachu's lifespan already. And no pokémon is afraid of death. If I must die, it might as well be now, when there's a chance it might do some good.~

He'd been charging up more and more electricity during this time, though he'd stayed emotionless and matching Hope's gaze in an attempt to forestall her attack for a few moments. And now – to Eve's horror – he shot of a thunderbolt into the air as strong and as bright as any that Eve had ever seen him perform.

Hope's expression didn't change. "So be it."

Houndoom crouched and prepared to fight, but before leaping forward, she growled, ~Eve, Basil… Forgive me. Neither of you deserve this, but I would do anything that Hope commands me.~

Flames burst into existence at her maw as she ran forward towards Basil, but the electric pokémon was prepared. He sped back to Eve's side and ducked behind her, making a brief attempt at biting away the threads that bound his trainer. It was a useless effort; his teeth weren't made for biting and slicing.

Even so, his position had bought him time. Though flames still clung to her fangs, Houndoom dared not attack for fear of harming Eve. She stood back a couple meters away, waiting for Basil to make a move.

~Well, I'd been planning on saving this for something special,~ Basil said as he crouched just behind Eve's body. ~Seems like now is the time to resort to it.~

He pivoted on the spot, tapped his tail against Eve's side, then ran off towards the other end of the clearing. Houndoom vaulted of Eve's body and pursued her quarry, but she soon came to a stunned stop when she saw that Basil was now glowing with some overwhelming electrical energy. His forehead in particular sparked with almost unbelievable intensity as his glowing body morphed; the energy that Raikou had given him was finally being fully unlocked.

The evolution was finished in just a few seconds. When Eve finally managed to move her body enough to see where Basil had gone, she saw a raichu standing at the far end of the clearing. Yet even though he was so far away, and even though he looked completely different, and even though she hadn't seen the evolution, Eve knew without a doubt that this was Basil doing the best he could to defend her. He was still just as small as he'd always been, which alone would have given away his identity; it looked almost ridiculous for a raichu to be smaller than the average pichu. Aside from that, his whippy tail was incredibly long (nearly five times the length of his body), and Eve could just barely make out the small sunburst mark still present on his forehead.

A tear or two leaked out from Eve's eye as she tried one last time to cry out, to make Basil understand that anything was better than him getting killed. But it did no good. Basil used everyone's surprise to his advantage and loosed a huge bolt of electricity into the sky, at least double the power of his previous attack.

This brought everyone to their senses. "Houndoom, finish it," Hope said.

Houndoom didn't hesitate anymore, and instead leaped straight for the tiny pokémon, angry-looking flames leaking from her jaws once more and giving her a very hellish appearance.

And Basil suddenly had no more chance to fire off any distress signals. He could concentrate only on dodging Houndoom's attacks and doing his best to deal damage back. He was slower now, and not adjusting very well to his anatomical changes, causing him to take hits that as a pikachu he would have easily avoided.

Still, the evolution definitely had its benefits. There was so much power in his attacks that Houndoom took some heavy damage as well within the first part of the battle.

Hope saw Houndoom's problem and called out her marowak to help, immediately changing the course of the battle. One-on-one, Basil had been able to at least hold his own; but now that he had two attackers (one of which had a type advantage over him), he gave up all attempts at defending himself and counterattacking. Instead, he ran this way and that, charging up electricity and loosing thunderbolts into the sky at every opportunity.

Though this allowed him to get off a few more distress signals, it came at a heavy toll. He received blow after blow from both Marowak and Houndoom, since he was focusing more on drawing someone's attention than on his own welfare.

After another minute of battle, Eve could barely see what was going on through the tears brought on by the lachrymose scene before her. Basil was now barely able to move, so damaged was his small body. Bright red welts rose from where his fur and skin had been scorched; bruises from bonemerang attacks made ugly-looking lumps wherever the red didn't show. Blood trickled from his skull and down onto his back, soaking the fur of the miserable and nearly unconscious raichu.

Eve looked at him and cried as loudly as she could through the bandages, distressed beyond all imagining that the one friend who had been with her almost constantly throughout her life was dying. And Eve was confused beyond all imagining, because it was Hope who was inflicting the pain without showing any emotion herself, and nothing about this situation held any sort of rightness. And Eve was sad beyond all imagining as well, so much so that no number of words of grief and misery could possibly describe her pain.

But more than all that, Eve despaired at the fact that though Basil was knowingly fighting to the death for her, she couldn't even cry out. She couldn't even cry out so that he might hear even a single sound that would begin to express the love and affection that she had for him, the feelings could never have been fully said in either the words of humans or the speech of pokémon.

In another moment, it no longer mattered whether or not she could cry out. Now that Basil was too weak to defend himself, Houndoom clamped her jaws around the tiny raichu's throat, picked up the almost-limp body, and then shook her head back and forth with all the force she could manage. Eve squeezed her eyes shut rather than watch, and heard rather than saw Basil fall back to the ground.

She opened her eyes once again in the desperate hope that perhaps Houndoom had been merciful; but after only the briefest of glances, she squeezed her eyes shut harder than ever and mutely sobbed. She would have held onto even the faintest spark of hope, but there was no doubt about this grim truth. The deformed, broken body was certainty enough.

Eve's first pokémon – and first true friend – was dead.

Eve was so distressed that she barely even noticed when Zach knelt next to her and leaned downward, so that his lips brushed against her ear as he said, "Though we weren't originally going to come out and say it, Hope was right – this was a show for you. We aren't afraid to act without mercy, though we'd just as soon not resort to it as quickly as we have now." All of his feigned friendliness was gone now; all that was left was hardened voice of a man who knew the finesses of cruelty. "Now, I've brought this kadabra all the way from our home of operations, just for you. It's the only psychic type we have that has the skill to teleport the three of us back. Teleporting pokémon are so hard to catch in the first place, after all, and they're even harder to train. You should feel honored that the New Republic of Johto has taken such an interest in you.

"So I just need you to rest for now, and we'll have you somewhere safe and sound in no time." He put a cloth to Eve's nose, but Eve was so distraught that she hardly noticed the strong, sweet smell of sleep powder mixed with some other chemical-like scent. In a few moments, her body relaxed and her sobbing stopped. In less than ten seconds, she was lost in a deep slumber.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Back at Indigo Plateau, Katsu briefly wondered at the bright bolt of electricity that he had seen flash out of a distant valley just a few minutes ago. But even if he had known that Hope and Eve had gone out to train, he would have thought nothing of it. Perhaps in that scenario, where he knew that they were out there, he might have even guessed that the bolt he saw was due to the battle between Hope and Eve. Or maybe he still would have passed it off as a battle between two territorial wild pokémon, as he did now.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Basil had staked his very life on the chance that someone would see his signal. In this gamble, he had won; one of his desperate lightning bolts had indeed been seen. But as Eve was passing into her drugged oblivion, that someone had already forgotten the bolt of lightning entirely.

That one loyal pokémon had staked everything on that chance. In doing so, he had lost everything and gained nothing.

And now it was too late for anyone to save either him or Eve, the one person whom he had loved and guarded from the time of his hatching to the moment of his death.

* * *

I'm not sure how much emotion I was able to convey in this, since I'm still more or less an amateur at this... But I cried a little as I wrote it. I really did love Basil (just as I love all of Eve's other pokémon), and it hurt me to have this happen to him... And the thing is, the only reason I ever even thought about having a pichu on this team was because I love raichu so much. I really don't like pikachu or pichu a lot. So Basil finally evolves to one of my favorite pokémon ever, and then...


	36. Coercion

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Coercion**

When Eve finally awoke from her sleep, it didn't happen slowly. She jolted upright before she was even fully conscious. Some half-remembered thought was wrapped around her mind like an ekans squeezing a rattata to death; and whatever this memory or idea was, Eve's heart told her that she would perhaps be the rattata than remember what it was. She felt that if she did remember it, the mere thought could destroy her completely.

So in desperation, she looked at her surroundings, trying to fend off the dread that loomed over her only partially awake mind. She was in a small room that was maybe seven by five feet at most, with its walls, floor, and ceiling made out of concrete. In one corner of the room was the small bed that Eve found herself upon, and near the foot of the bed was a simple wooden chair. On the short wall opposite of Eve was a solid-looking metal door, and on the long wall opposite her was a wooden door. The latter of these had been left ajar, revealing a tiny bathroom with only a toilet and sink.

These strange, cramped surroundings added fear and confusion to Eve's already somewhat delirious mind. Nothing seemed certain. _I don't know this place… My head hurts. I wonder… And why am I…? _Her thoughts bounced through her head without any sense of coherence. A feeling of panic rose in her chest, practically choking her.

And then she saw the crisscrossing the remnants of a bug-type's silk stuck all over the jeans and the jacket she was wearing, and everything suddenly flooded back to her.

"Basil is… Basil is…" She muttered to herself, and though her face was devoid of emotion, she couldn't bear to say the last word.

The panic and fear and confusion left entirely, and a sort of numbness came upon her. She pulled her knees close to her body and laid her forehead down upon them, as if it was the only thing she could do to hold herself together. And she sat like that, with her eyes staring off at something an infinite distance away.

The tears came after some time; maybe it was a minute later, or maybe an hour. There was no way to guess the time in this isolated room, and even if there had been, it's doubtful that Eve would have taken any note of it. Once those tears started, there was no stopping the body-wracking sobs that soon followed. No intelligible thought went through her mind during this: not the idea that she'd never see Basil again, nor the memories of their friendship, nor the regret that he had sacrificed himself for her sake.

The only realities to Eve were the truth of his death, and the all-encompassing sadness that accompanied it.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve woke up again, sore from having stayed in that same position for so long. She was thinking again, and though she remembered what had happened to Basil, she didn't go into hysterics again. The numbness of earlier had returned, but with a different cause. Before, the lack of feeling had been due to a rejection of the truth; now that she had realized and mourned, she felt emotionally fatigued. More tears and sorrow simply were not in her capacity, for the moment being at least.

Slowly, she stretched her legs, turned her body, and stood up next to her bed. Her stomach growled at her and she realized her mouth felt terribly dry, and she wondered how long she'd been gone from Indigo Plateau. And she wondered if anyone of the thousands of people at Indigo Plateau had realized that she was gone, and if so, she tried to guess whether or not Lance would think that she had deserted the army. But these were only dim thoughts at the back of her mind. For the most part, she just felt empty.

Instinctively, Eve reached down to the pouch at her hip, only to realize that it wasn't there. She snapped her head down to look, wanting to make sure that the nerves of her hands weren't lying to her. But it was true - the pouch was gone.

This realization made her heart skip a beat, and worry began to gnaw at her chest. She completely forgot her hunger and thought only of what had happened to Basil. Or, more specifically, what Team Rocket had done to Basil, and what they might do to her other pokemon. They had to be in Team Rocket's grasp, just as she guessed herself to be.

_What will they do to them? No – what might they be doing to them now? _She paced back and forth, trying to think of something – _anything – _that she could do to somehow find out where they were. In her desperation, she dropped to the floor and checked under the bed, as if perhaps there was even the slightest chance that her pokémon might be there. But no pokéballs were below the bed. She even lifted up the mattress, but nothing was under that, either.

_It's stupid to think they'd be in here somewhere, of course… But…_

The metal door at one side of the small room was still shut as tightly as ever; it seemed to glare at Eve, challenging her to open it and search for her pokémon. At first, she didn't even want to try, despite her urgent desire to find her friends. The idea of it being locked somehow terrified Eve, and the unknown of it being either opened or shut somehow seemed better than the chance of knowing for certain that it was locked.

Nonetheless, she walked over to the door and put her hand on the metal handle. She took a deep breath, and then pushed her hand downward.

The handle didn't budge.

She tried again, and then again with more force, and then again with both hands, and then again using all of her weight to force the handle down. That failing, she slammed herself into the door itself once, twice, ten, twenty times. It didn't so much as rattle in its frame. Panic overtook her. Some primal instinct couldn't stand being confined in this small room, with no way to escape. Whether this was due to the unrestrained nature of the human mind or the limitless power and freedom of pokémon, she didn't know or care. Perhaps it was the same instinct that made wild pokémon fight almost to the death to keep themselves from being captured by trainers.

Whatever the reason, the result was the same. Just as she'd been consumed by sorrow earlier, now Eve became obsessed with the idea of escape; even Basil's death and the safety of her other pokémon left her thoughts. When she finally quit pounding on the door after five minutes, she hurled herself at a crack in the cement of the wall; when that didn't work, she went over every bit of space available to her in a mad frenzy, as if she'd somehow stumble upon some microscopic button that would unlock the metal door. Her shoulder was terribly bruised now, but she hardly noticed it.

When a knock sounded some minutes later, Eve turned to the door and froze; she was kneeling on the floor near the head of the bed. She wasn't sure how to react to this new development, so she stayed frozen. In a couple moments, the door opened, and a familiar face cautiously looked in and locked eyes with Eve.

"Eve?" Brian said cautiously as he walked in, closing the door behind him. He had a genuine look of concern on his face, and he extended his hand to Eve to help her up. The panic had left her, and now she was confused and afraid again; she ignored his hand and pushed herself up off the ground. She stood and faced him.

"Where are my pokémon?" she asked, trying to sound brave and determined but only managing to give her fear an audible form. She was trembling, due both to her earlier panicked exertions and her worry for herself and her pokémon.

Brian sighed – not in exasperation, but in apparently true sympathy for Eve's plight – and took a seat in the wooden chair. "They're fine. Please, sit down, and I'll try to explain everything."

He gestured to the bed, but Eve was so relieved that he'd said her pokémon were fine that she couldn't stay standing for even a moment longer; she fell back to her knees, then crossed her legs to take the pressure off of the already raw skin. Crawling around on the cold, rough floor had done some damage.

Rather than stay in the chair, Brian lowered himself to the floor and sat there. Now the two faced each other from opposite sides of the small room, one filled with pity, the other with a bitter sensation of hope.

"Eve, first of all… I'm sorry that all of this happened. So very sorry. And a lot of it is my fault, too, for getting people so fired up," Brian started. "I told you before that my parents were killed by wild pokémon, right?"

Eve looked at him dumbly and did not respond.

He seemed humbled by her gaze. "I'm sorry, I'm just making excuses now. But I always thought that wild pokémon need to be managed so that humans can live in safety, and Team Rocket indulged my belief. I even did illegal stuff for them, with the understanding that they were working to control wild populations through over-catching and then selling the pokémon on the black market. And when they asked me to campaign against you for them… Well, I thought I would just be using their power and my talent for speaking to convince others. I didn't know that Team Rocket would use it to completely overthrow the government. So yet again… I'm sorry. And I'm especially sorry about Basil."

Basil's name spoken aloud brought tears to Eve's eyes, but she still didn't speak. She didn't know whether to trust Brian or not. Whenever speaking to her alone, he'd seemed kind; and yet he worked for Team Rocket, and he had been like a completely different person whenever rallying for support. She desperately wanted to put her faith in someone, yet after the betrayal by Hope, Eve wasn't sure she could ever believe in anyone again.

"I didn't know that Team Rocket was going to do any of this. Really. If I had, I would've left regardless of how hard Team Rocket works to screw up the life of anyone who quits. But now…"

"Now what?" Eve finally said, her voice full of sadness and distrust. "You're still working for Team Rocket, or else you wouldn't be here. What do they want? And why should I believe that you didn't actually want this revolution? Are you trying to convince me that you're on my side?" Rivulets of tears leaked from her bloodshot eyes; she was truly a pitiable sight.

Brian met her eyes and held her gaze, though any other person would have been ashamed to see the complete dejection in her face. "Yes, I'm on your side. I don't expect you to believe me, but it's true. I tried to warn you after our battle was over, remember? I told you to brace yourself for the worst. Back then, I thought that was just because the people following me would get more and more aggressive as I gained momentum… As we both know now, it turned out to be far worse. And yes, I'm still working for Team Rocket, but only because they would probably kill me if I didn't. Unlike the rest of the army of the New Republic of Johto, the trainers who worked for Team Rocket before the revolution are held to higher standards. We have more privileges, but anyone who deserts is considered a traitor – and a dangerous one at that – since we have knowledge about the workings of the government that the regular soldiers don't possess."

"If you're working for Team Rocket, then that still means you're here on their command, whether or not you do it willfully or not. I can't trust you."

"But Eve, please just _listen_," Brian said emphatically. "The only reason they have me here talking to you is because they know that I've spoken with you before, and they know that I'd hate to see you hurt again.

"I'm still involved with the upper ranks, you see. They want to keep an eye on me, and if I don't look like I'm in an important position, then a lot of the people who joined Team Rocket and the New Republic of Johto because of my speeches will probably desert. And since I'm still high in the ranks, I hear a lot, even if I don't get to voice my opinion. When I heard them saying that they were going to kidnap you by whatever means necessary, I tried to convince them that they shouldn't attempt it, and that at the very least, they shouldn't be so quick to kill any of your pokémon. They wouldn't listen.

"But since I did that, they thought I could get you to comply with their demands. Which is what I'm going to try to do. If you don't…" he broke off mid-sentence, looked away, then ended, "You'll just get hurt more. It wouldn't be hard for Team Rocket to repeat what happened to Basil."

Eve clenched her fists tightly and looked down at the ground. She was so terrified right now, both for herself and for her pokémon. "And just… What are their demands?" she said, her voice trembling as she continued to stare at the ground.

"They want you to evolve pokémon for them."

Eve looked back up and her eyes opened a little wider. "But how do they know that I can do that? I've only ever told…"

He saw the realization dawning on her face, and nodded. "It's partly my fault, again. Do you remember when we met outside of Ecruteak, when Hope was all cut up by that pidgeotto? Well, I knew of Hope, and I recognized her as soon as you mentioned her name that time we met. She'd been a bit of a rising star when she'd been working for Team Rocket. She'd joined at only fourteen years old or so, but was already known for both her three strong pokémon and her ability to follow any orders without question. She left Team Rocket without a word about a year ago, and of course Team Rocket didn't like that.

"When I saw her, I reported her to my superiors… I just wish I hadn't been so loyal to Team Rocket then, otherwise I might have let her be. But anyway, they had someone follow her, and they more or less kidnapped her at their first opportunity. It was right after she had beat a gym; all of her pokémon were knocked out or very weak, so it was the only opportunity. She came back without complaint; it was as if she didn't care either way whether or not she was controlled by Team Rocket. Some of the superiors asked her to tell them all she knew about you, and she mentioned that you could evolve pokémon, and that that was how those gyarados had evolved, as well as how her own houndoom had probably evolved."

Eve felt more drained than ever. "But they didn't dare kidnap me whenever I was with Jenna or Cynthia or Mark, huh?"

Brian looked ashamed. "Right. They had to wait until after the revolution began, though they desperately wanted to strengthen their forces with your ability beforehand. Hope kept Team Rocket informed on what you were doing as soon as you joined the Old Johto's army, and they tried to capture you in the battle that you were in. Did you notice how many bird pokémon were with the bird that grabbed you? Even though each and every one of them should have been doing its own fighting and capturing? That was planned. They simply didn't expect how much of a force your aerodactyl would be."

Eve scrunched her eyes shut, as if what came next physically hurt her. "So they had Hope lure me out by myself as soon as possible. And they had her… had her kill Basil to show me that they mean business."

Brian nodded sorrowfully. Then he stood up, walked forward, and sat right in front of Eve. She was too paralyzed by sadness at the memory to even notice the movement.

Then he said, "Listen, Eve. All you've got to do is evolve pokémon for them. I've already negotiated for you. So long as you evolve pokémon, then your pokémon are guaranteed safety. They won't be used for the war, and they won't be sold to the highest bidder, even though they'd all be useful in both regards. They'll be kept in their pokéballs most of the time. They'll be fed every now and then, since pokémon in pokéballs still use small amounts of energy; that way, they won't be starving. You'll be allowed to see one of them every few days, so that you can be assured of their safety. Even if you tried to escape, they won't take it out on your pokémon so long as they catch you again."

"But how can I trust that they'll hold true to that?" Eve asked, looking up and into his face, which was now just a few inches away.

"I told you, you'll get to see them every-"

"No, that's not what I mean. What about when I go through all of the army's pokémon? It might not happen for a year or two, but eventually I won't be able to do any more for them. What reason will they have to keep my pokémon safe then? Why would they keep me around?"

Brian rubbed his forehead. "You underestimate the value of your ability. Even if you go through all their pokémon, and even if we win the war, they'll still make more money off of you than they would your pokémon. Do you realize how much people would pay to take the easy way out of years and years of training? Even if your ability only works as a catalyst on pokémon that are already trained – as the higher ranking officials think, since not every pokémon you touch evolves – even then it's still worth so much more than you can imagine. The good thing is, they will never do anything to your pokémon. The bad thing is that…" He trailed off and continued to rub his forehead, as if trying to ward off the headache of the situation.

"What?"

He let out a pained breath. "The bad thing," he said again, "Is that they'll never let you go. Even if they lose the war, the higher-ups will escape and take you with them, either to build up another army or to make money off of you. And since your pokémon will be essentially in a state of stasis that entire time, they won't die before you; the threat to them will always hang over your head.

"But even beyond that reasoning for their safety, there's more to make you believe that they'll stick to their word. You see, those above me compare you to a pokémon that needs to be trained, and they see two possibilities for the training. One is through abuse and fear, completely breaking you so that you have no choice but to cling to their orders. They would kill your pokémon, then hurt you. Their other option is to befriend you and gain your trust, which is what they're trying to do by guaranteeing your pokémon's safety."

Eve looked back down at the ground, and her body trembled more. _They've already killed Basil… And now they're enslaving me. _

"I'm not sure if this makes the situation any better, but… The New Republic of Johto isn't necessarily an entirely bad thing, even though I think even the old government was better," Brian said. "They promise a truer republic than what we have had before, where only eleven people represented the entire nation and where a dictatorial Champion and Elite Four chose what laws could be broken and which should be upheld. True, Team Rocket will essentially have control, at least for a while; but I'm confident that eventually the citizens will get sick of that, and will revolt against them just as they revolted against the old Johto government. Crimes with trainers as victims will no longer be placed behind those of a city's citizens, as they have been in the past. A system will be developed so that pokémon and humans come in contact less, preventing injuries and deaths caused by one race to the other. And-"

Eve shook her head from side to side, more violently than she meant to; Brian immediately stopped talking and waited for her to say whatever objection she had.

She calmed down after a few moments, but couldn't say anything for about another minute. She kept her head down, and Brian saw tear after tear fall to the cold cement beneath them. Her body shook up and down as she sobbed, yet she somehow managed to keep a sound from escaping her lips.

Finally, after some minutes of silence, she managed to slow her sobbing and say, "Just… just stop talking. I can't justify this. But after seeing Basil slaughtered, I can't… I can't…" she broke into sobs again, and it took her another few minutes to get control of herself. When she did, she finished, "I can't see any of my other pokémon get killed. I even know that they'd all willingly die to keep me from doing something that I know is wrong, but that just makes it all the worse if I did something to kill them or get them sold to someone else or something. And I can't see them die in front of me, never again. I don't think I could…" She trailed off.

Then, suddenly, she stood up. She let out a shaky breath to try to calm herself down, then glared at Brian and said, "I… I don't know whether to trust you, or to believe that my pokémon will be kept safe, even if your logic makes sense. But I have no choice but to agree to the conditions. Just… just let me see my pokémon. Even if it's just one of them, please let me see one of them now."

Brian stood up and turned to the door. "Of course. And Eve, yet again… I'm sorry. And for your sake, try not to go crazy in here like you were doing before; I know that this is hell for you, but know that there's always someone watching and listening, and any weakness you reveal could be something they could use against you in the future." He gestured up at a camera in one of the corners of the ceiling; in her earlier fits of sadness and panic, she hadn't seen it at all. "Anyway, just follow me; I'll lead you to a place where you can see your pokémon."

He knocked on the metal door, and someone opened it for him; he walked out of the room, and Eve quickly followed. She ignored the two guards who began to follow her as soon as she was out of the door. Their ominous presence was nothing compared to the thought of being able to see one of her pokémon.

So Brian led the group down a hallway and into a small elevator. They went down to the first floor of the building, and Brian led the way down the hallway again and then went into another metal door. All through this journey, Eve had seen no windows, and so had no indication of where exactly this building was.

Eve entered the door and found herself on a small battlefield; she, Brian, the two guards, and one other man were the only people in the room. As soon as the door closed behind the group, the two guards let out six pokémon each. Most of them were small, but the message got across: even though Eve would have a pokémon out, she shouldn't even think about attacking or escaping.

The man who had been in the room when they arrived pulled a pokéball out of his pocket and said harshly, "This place is reinforced with steel, and the door will be locked remotely if you try to do anything. We have plenty more troops ready for battle in this building if anything goes wrong, so I suggest you don't try anything."

Then he handed over the pokéball.

Eve took it tentatively, afraid that maybe this was all just a trick. But it was a real pokéball, at least. She pressed the release mechanism, and Hannah appeared in the burst of light that followed.

~Eve, what's going on?~ Hannah asked as she tensed, looking around at the twelve pokémon that surrounded them. When Eve didn't answer, she turned to get a better look at Eve; Eve just looked at the purple-leafed bayleef, tears in her eyes.

Seeing that the pokémon around her weren't attacking, Hannah lowered her guard and moved towards Eve, a comforting scent emanating from the leaf on her head. ~Eve, what's wrong? Why are you crying? And why are all these pokémon around us?~

But Eve couldn't answer. Instead, she knelt down, threw her arms around Hannah's neck, and cried with all the intensity of a child the first time he is punished for a crime he didn't do. And just like such a child, she felt shock of the truth of how cruel the world can be. And also like such a child, she couldn't comprehend this truth at all.

* * *

So, um... Sucks to be Eve right now...

Anyway, this was originally going to be a much longer chapter. However, that ended up being well over 8,000 words. It divided quite nicely into two, however, so the second half will be the next chapter.

I don't have much else to say right now, so I guess I'll just repeat how glad I am that there are people out there who apparently like this story enough to read and review!


	37. The Tides of War

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Tides of War**

"Hey, Katsu! Got a minute?"

Katsu stopped and turned around; to his surprise, Mark was the speaker. The two had only ever talked when Eve was with them, and Katsu was surprised that Mark had even remembered his name. After all, Mark was fairly high up in the hierarchy of the army, and he probably had more important people to think about.

"Yeah, I've got some free time. I just finished with breakfast, and I was heading to arena two to train with the rest of my unit. But I've still got about ten minutes. Is anything wrong?" Mark looked tired, as if he'd already been up for several hours this morning.

Mark scowled and said, "Mind if we go back to my room? It's a bit of a sensitive issue."

"Um, sure," Katsu replied, not knowing what to think of what's going on. _The only connection Mark and I have is Eve… Did something happen to her, maybe? She was supposed to rejoin a unit today, wasn't she?_

Before Katsu quite knew what was happening, he found himself in Mark's room. Seeing his confusion, Mark smiled slightly and tilted his head upward. "That was Tim's doing. Anyway…" The smile faded, and he grew dead serious. "You've been here for a couple days, haven't you?"

"Yeah. I got back three days ago; I was recruited to help escort a convoy of the sick and wounded back to here. What about it?"

"Have you talked to Eve at all during your time back here?" Though his eyes were cloudy as he 'looked' at Katsu, Mark nonetheless had a gaze that seemed to drive into Katsu's soul. Perhaps the cloudy eyes themselves made the feeling more pronounced. Or maybe it was just the knowledge that Mark's real sight was quite a bit different from anything that Katsu could comprehend.

Either way, it didn't matter. Katsu had no reason not to answer the question, so he said, "Sure, once or twice. I heard she was recovering, so I came to see how she was doing."

"What did she feel like? Did she say anything out of the usual?"

Now Katsu was starting to get worried. If there had been any doubt about the reason for this conversation before, it was gone now. Something had to have happened to Eve. "She seemed fine. Just a bit annoyed at having to stay in the same place for two weeks. She asked me for a second opinion about, you know, telling Lance about what she can do. I told her the same thing I told her last time, and warned against it. But she didn't really agree with me; I got the sense that she was planning on telling Lance. She still seemed rather shaken by the battle she had been in. Now, will you tell me what's going on?"

Mark shook his head. "Technically I shouldn't, but… The thing is, Eve and Hope left yesterday afternoon to train outside. They haven't come back, but both of them have pokémon too strong to be overcome by any wild pokémon, so it can't be that they were injured by something ordinary."

"Do you think they deserted?" Katsu said, though he immediately regretted even thinking that. "No, sorry. Eve doesn't strike me as someone who would do that. Unless… If the battle really did get to her, then maybe she just wanted to get away. She doesn't really like people or pokémon getting hurt, you know? She might not want to be a part of it in any way, either as a fighter or by evolving pokémon."

Mark started pacing up and down the length of his room, which wasn't really that big. "Do you think that Hope would have helped her to desert if she had wanted to? I really don't know Hopy any better than I know you, so I couldn't tell Lance when he asked me. He's furious about this whole situation."

Katsu thought about it for a little bit. "Well, it's hard to tell with Hope. She wouldn't have any moral problems with deserting. But she also likes to fight, and I don't see why she would leave a war. Maybe if she was ordered to desert… But I don't think Eve would directly tell her to go with her. She might've asked, but not demanded."

"With what you said earlier, about her having second thoughts… Do you think she was going to tell Lance?"

"I think it's a good possibility. It seemed like she was leaning that way when I talked to her two days ago," Katsu said. "She really was not in good shape after that battle. She was probably wanting to tell Lance simply because she didn't want to go back to that sort of situation. Or she didn't want to get her shoulders gouged out again. Either way, she must have decided that deserting was the best option. Don't you think?"

"It makes sense…" Mark said. "But she doesn't really seem daring enough to desert, to me at least. And she'd feel really guilty about it. Would she really do it?"

"If not, then what?"

Mark was about to respond, but he paused as he was forming a word and instead went over to the door and opened it. Standing outside it was a young trainer of maybe fourteen years of age, his hand poised to knock on where the door had been.

He quickly straightened up and saluted Mark. "Sorry to bother you, Sir, but Lance wants to see you. And he says to bring anyone else with you who knows Eve well, if they're at hand."

Mark almost smiled, and he reached up to rub Tim's feet. "You know, sometimes Lance seems more psychic than you, Tim," he mumbled to his pokémon. Then, more loudly, he said, "Message received. Thank you for delivering it. Katsu – you heard him. We're heading over to pay Lance a visit."

And once again, before Katsu knew what was happening, he found himself standing next to Mark in the main headquarters of the Old Johto Army.

Lance looked up at the two as they appeared, and with a deathly serious look on his face, he said, "Glad you could join us, Mark and…?"

"Seikatsu," Katsu said stiffly, feeling that his full name would be more appropriate when talking to someone so important. It was a miracle he could even say that much; his awe of Lance, as well as his confusion about what was going on, made him almost speechless.

As usual, Lance wasted no time getting to the point. "Using the locators in communicators as well as some trained poochyena, we managed to find where Eve and Hope ditched their communicators," Lance said to Mark. "They were left in a clearing about a mile away from here, and about three miles from where we draw the border of our base here. We found signs of a battle there, which was to be expected; Hope and Eve were supposedly training, after all. However, there was something else we didn't expect."

He got up from where he'd been sitting, went out a door on his side of the room, then immediately came in with a box. Whatever was in the box smelled terribly, as badly as the drool of a gloom or the spray of a stunky. Though he knew it wasn't very appropriate considering his low rank, Katsu instinctively left his position of attention and covered his nose with his hand.

Lance set the box on the table, opened it, and tipped out its contents. To Katsu's horror, the horribly mangled body of some small pokémon tipped out, though its fur was so burned and dirty and matted with blood that only the distinctive tail and ears helped alert Katsu to its species

Mark hardly seemed as surprised; of course, he had known what was in the box before it had been opened. As far as Katsu knew, he might have even sensed the box before it had even been taken out of the side room. Yet though no surprise shown on his face, Katsu did observe it get paler and paler as he said, "Katsu, I find it difficult to identify any specific pokémon after its death. It has to do with how Tim and I see things. So I need to ask you… I mean, this has the right proportions and size, but… Katsu, is this… is it Basil?"

Katsu gasped and instantly regretted it as the reek of decay entered his mouth, making him gag. But he moved in closer anyway, and as he did, his horror grew. The tail was ridiculously long; the body was tiny. It seemed unlikely that this dead raichu could be anyone but Basil.

And as he looked, he saw one thing that confirmed it. "That marking on its head… That's Basil's sunburst marking. Eve never explained to me how he suddenly got it, but this is definitely him." Katsu was stunned; though he'd never really been attached to Basil, he'd traveled with Eve so long that it seemed a terrible thing to see him dead.

Lance gestured coldly to one of his aides; the man in question put on some gloves, put the body back in the box, then stored it in the room once more. Once it was gone, Lance turned back to the two people in front of him. "Now, the bite marks that covered its body were from fire fang attacks, mostly. They match the general shape of a houndoom's mouth. So what I want you two to tell me is why this Hope person would go to so much trouble to kill Eve's pokémon and make the both of them disappear."

Mark shook his head in denial and sat down in a chair, unwilling or unable to stay standing. "This isn't possible. How could they even get out through all the patrols we have?"

"The how doesn't matter, though I will tell you that some kadabra footprints were found at the scene," Lance said coolly. "What does matter is the why. So yet again, I ask you: what reason would this Hope girl have to take Eve? Did she have some grudge against her, even though Eve trusted the girl enough to go out alone?"

Katsu had fallen into a silent state of reverie, thinking back to all the times that he, Hope, and Eve had been together. But now, as one memory came back to his mind, his own face grew red with anger, then rapidly turned pale with understanding.

"I swear on Sprout Tower, I completely forgot… How could I have forgotten?" Katsu said to himself in a dismayed whisper. Then, with determination, he looked Lance right in the eye. "Sir, I was once told by Brian of Team Rocket that Hope used to work for Rocket Corporation, but that she simply disappeared from her job a while back. I'd forgotten about it until now."

Lance glared at Katsu. "You spoke with Brian? And you forgot about Hope's involvement with them? Explain yourself."

"It was before Brian started on his campaing, Sir," Katsu replied with resolve. "I just happened to meet him on my way from Goldenrod to Ecruteak, and we talked for a while. When we were close to the city, Hope and Eve came riding up on Hope's houndoom. Both were rather badly injured after a fight with a pidgeotto. Either Eve or I mentioned Hope's name, and Brian told us that they'd used to work together. It was interesting, but I didn't think much about it. Hope had seemed more focused on training than anything else, and she obviously hadn't been working for Rocket Corporation for a while. Even if I'd thought about Brian's comment even once since arriving here, I still doubt I would have thought anything of it. Hope never struck me as someone who was dedicated to anyone, especially any mere employer."

Mark seemed to be hit even harder by this news than the revelation of the dead pokémon's identity. "So you're saying…"

"He's giving us reason to suspect that Eve has been captured by Team Rocket and that treasonous New Republic of Johto," Lance said, turning his glare to Mark. "Normally, I would pass that off as nothing. Plenty of our troops are currently prisoners of war, and we have many prisoners of war was well. At this point in time, I have no reason to look into this matter any further. However… If there's something that Team Rocket knows about Eve that I do not, now would be the time for the secrecy to be dropped. Why did Team Rocket go to all that trouble to kidnap a single girl, important though she may have been in the months leading up to the war?"

Katsu paled again, and looked to Mark. "Mark, this is bad. Hope knew about what Eve could do. As far as I know, she could even know more than me. We need to speak."

Mark still had his head in his hands. He didn't respond.

But Katsu didn't need Mark's agreement on this matter; he'd already made up his mind. "Lance, sir, Eve has the ability to evolve pokémon. It doesn't work a hundred percent of the time, and-"

Lance cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'll need both of you to tell me all you can about this ability in a moment, but first – Koga, would you gather everyone that's not here?"

Koga (whom Katsu hadn't noticed before now) nodded silently and left the room.

After about ten minutes of anxious waiting, most everyone important in the resistance movement had arrived. Cynthia, Koga, Bruno, Morty, and Bugsy all showed up; none of them said a word, easily sensing the dangerous mood that Lance was in. Whitney and Faulkner were helping with battles at the moment, and so didn't come; nor did Claire, who was still attempting to gather support in other regions. So far, all she'd been able to get was supply help from a couple of regions. No country wanted to donate troops to someone else's war.

Jenna and her husband, Evan, were the last two to enter the room. And Jenna – either out of ignorance of the tense atmosphere in the room or out of purposeful disrespect to Lance – sat down casually and said, "Hey, what's going on? Evan and I were just enjoying a nice breakfast of overcooked eggs and gruel together. Why were we interrupted?"

Lance looked over at Jenna with absolute murder in his eyes. "This isn't a situation for anyone to treat lightly, Jenna. Even you. Eve has been captured by Team Rocket, and I've just been informed that she has the ability to make pokémon to evolve."

All the gym leaders looked at each other silently, immediately understanding the gravity of the situation. Jenna, meanwhile, jumped to her feet and shouted, "You let Eve get kidnapped? From right under your nose? She's been here the last few days, I know it, so she should have been safe – what kind of war are you running here, Lance? One where soldiers can be kidnapped from right under your nose?" She seemed truly angry and upset. Then, exasperated, she sat back down and added, "Anyway, just tell me where she is, and I'll go charge in and get her."

"It won't be that easy," Lance said. "If what Mark and Seikatsu have told me is true, they won't be revealing her location, and she'll be so heavily guarded that not even you will be able to save her." Before Jenna could object, he continued, "Now, Mark. You'll be first. Tell me everything you know about her ability."

Mark sighed and raised his head for the first time in a while. "She learned about it from Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, though she's apparently been able to do it her whole life. It seems like it happens through touch, but not every pokémon she touches evolves, otherwise it would have been obvious. She's fairly sure that that's how her chikorita evolved, as well as those magikarp at the Lake of Rage. And that's all I know about it."

"So if her chikorita evolved that way before she knew about it, does that mean she can do it unconsciously?" Morty asked; though Lance dominated the room, everyone else present had just as much of a right to make their opinions known and to ask questions.

"It seems so," Mark said.

Lance nodded. "Seikatsu? Can you elaborate at all?"

"Sir, as I was going to say earlier, it doesn't happen a hundred percent of the time, even when she's trying," Katsu said, his voice grim but loud, so that everyone in the room could hear. The more he thought about what was going on, the less he liked it. This could be absolutely catastrophic for the Old Johto's army, he now understood. And Eve… He wondered what Team Rocket would be willing to do to her to get her to cooperate. She would already be distraught about losing Basil; any more stress on her could cause her to… Well, he wasn't sure what. Go crazy, maybe.

Though these worries for Eve were bouncing about at the back of his mind, he dutifully continued to relate all that he knew. "I asked her to try evolving my pokémon once. My snivy and totodile, both of whom I'd been training for years, managed it. A paras that I'd been training for a couple months could not. And I was there at the Lake of Rage. The cult who was trying to use Eve said that she was somehow channeling the rage of the lake itself. It seems like how angry she got had something to do with the magikarp evolving, though I could be wrong."

"So in your opinion, do you think that her power works only when she comes into contact with pokémon who are already close to evolving?" Lance asked.

Katsu nodded. "I think so, Sir."

Cynthia piped up from her end of the table. "Even with that restriction, that ability is… Well, simply put, incredible. I've known plenty of pokémon that have seemed strong enough to evolve, but went years without doing so. If Eve acts like a catalyst…"

"…then this war just got a lot tougher to fight," Bugsy finished, though it seemed rather ridiculous for someone as young as him to have a voice among so many well-known trainers. "Being a bug-type trainer, I have pokémon evolve more often than most. What Cynthia said about evolution not happening when you'd expect is right, though the wait is more like months with bugs, not years. But my point is, the difference in power between a pokémon ready to evolve and the same pokémon once it has evolved is enormous. Especially if you can get to a second evolution, such as beedrill."

"Then do we all agree that the discovery of Eve's location and her subsequent rescue should be one of our priorites from now on?" Lance growled out, daring anyone to challenge him.

A murmer of agreement ran through the assembled group.

Evan stood up. "And how are you going to do that, exactly? As you said, they'll probably keep her location as secret as possible. Even our spy network over there can only glean so much information."

Lance glanced over to Koga, who was standing to the right of him. "It will be difficult, but not impossible. Koga, you need to tell all of your spies to look for any suspicious movement and transfers of the pokémon of troops; I suspect that if Team Rocket will be using Eve for evolution, then all of the unevolved pokémon of their troops will eventually be funneled away from their trainers temporarily. We need to find out where the pokémon are going.

"Meanwhile," he said as he turned back to address the group in general, "We will redouble our efforts to take Goldenrod. Rocket has been focusing what appears to be all their strength to defend both that city and Ecruteak. If most of us here go and fight, we should be able to take it before they can muster a large number of evolved pokémon. Then we'll bolster the defenses of Violet, Mahogany, and Goldenrod to withstand any assaults from an entire army of evolved pokemon, as circumstances seem to suggest may happen. If we can just hold out until the right opportunity presents itself to take Ecruteak, then we can win this war."

"I have one more concern," Morty said. "While that plan sounds good, what happens if Team Rocket forces Eve to summon either Ho-oh or Lugia? With their power, they could-"

Jenna suddenly burst out laughing, forcing Morty stop midsentence, his face turning red with anger and embarrassment. "No, that's not a problem," Jenna said, a smile on her face. "And I'm guessing that Hope knows that, too. Knowing Eve, she probably told that girl everything. I'm not saying they won't try it, but she can't just summon them by herself. She'd need Raikou, Entei, and Suicune at the very least to re-summon Ho-oh, and Suicune and the rest of them aren't on the best of terms now, even if Team Rocket could find the three of them. And how about Lugia, Mark? Weren't Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres needed to summon her?"

Everyone looked back and forth from Mark to Jenna, surprised. No one knew much about what Eve had been doing with the legends, nor had anyone realized that Mark had been present during that secretive night summoning of Lugia.

"Yes, that's right," Mark said blankly. "And seeing how they were thought by everyone to be mere myths until now, I'd say they're not going to be found and caught very easily." Mark's voice carried no hint of relief at this statement. If anything, he seemed more depressed than ever. Even though he'd barely had any chances to talk to or be with Eve in nearly two months (the first month due to Jenna's training, and the second due to both his and her duties in the army), her disappearance was hard for him to come to terms with.

"Good to know," Lance said. "We wouldn't want that threat looming over our heads in addition to the news we've already received this morning. Make sure that you are all ready to leave tomorrow morning, using Faulkner's birds and my dragons as a quick method of transportation. Mention our departure to no one in the meantime. Koga, you will be staying behind to run the army in my absence. Now, you are all dismissed."

Everyone began to leave, but they stopped when Evan stood up again and confronted Lance. "All of us? Lance, that's ridiculous. What will happen if we're all killed? As soon as they see us in battle, Rocket will do all they can to wipe us out, thereby killing the heart of the leadership of the resistance against them. We have to take an entire city to take a step towards success; all they'd have to do is teleport behind you with a sharp dagger in hand to achieve complete victory."

"Aw, Evan, lighten up," Jenna said, relaxing in her seat. She seemed to have forgotten all of her earlier rage at Eve's capture. "We've been married for how many years now? I'd think you'd at least trust my abilities, if not anyone else's. You're underestimating us. Besides, we have the master teleporter on our side," she said, looking over at Mark. "If they try anything tricky like that, I'm sure he and Tim will have no problems stopping it. What's the point of having all of us most powerful trainers on our side anyway, if not to fight?"

Lance looked at both of them with another glare and said, "As I said, this meeting is dismissed. Whether or not you agree with my decision is irrelevant, Evan. Tomorrow we embark for the largest and most important battle yet. I suggest all of you-" and at that he looked around the room at all the people who had stayed to listen to Evan's comments "-be well prepared."

* * *

Yet again, this was originally supposed to be part of the previous chapter... I still liked this chapter, but to be honest, I was planning on having Katsu be a more developed character by this point, which would have made it better. That was the original plan, anyway. He was also originally going to actually travel with Eve a lot more than he did, but that didn't happen, which doesn't help... But oh well. At this point, I'm halfway winging things, so I don't mind too much.

Next chapter's actually already done. ^_^ So you'll definitely get a chapter next week. AND I've got a four day weekend starting tomorrow, so I'll have more time to write even more. Hopefully.

Thanks for reading~!


	38. Resisting

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Resisting**

Jenna laughed aloud as the chaos of battle raged around her, her every sense filled with adrenaline-induced excitement. She was riding through the sky on Flame's back, giving her attack commands to the dragon even while she watched her golduck and tyranitar wreaking havoc among the New Republic troops below her. Pokémon covered in flaming feathers plummeted from the sky each time Flame shot off a flamethrower or fire blast; even when she had five or six other flying types bothering her, she never missed her intended target. And with that smell of burning plumage came the sickening scent of seared flesh and the terrifying sounds of the screams of dying men and women.

Jenna only laughed all the harder at these atrocities. To her, war was a game. Moreover, it was a game at which she excelled.

And though she was the only one who battled with such carelessness and disregard for life, she was not unique in her ability to kill the enemy. Lance, Bruno, Cynthia, and all the available gym leaders were also causing massive destruction to the enemy lines that were defending the plain between Ilex Forest and the southernmost part of Goldenrod city.

As they already knew, this massive – and so far successful – onslaught was not without its risks. They had been battling since daybreak, and they were nearly six hours into the battle now. Morty had already been gravely wounded when he had gone too far into the New Republic's ranks and found himself massively outnumbered. The only reason he wasn't dead at the moment was because Mark had been using Tim's teleporting and his own strategic mind to act as commander-in-chief during the battle, and he'd been able to sense Morty's danger and save him; but even so, it was doubtful whether or not Morty would be able to see his beloved ghosts ever again – unless, perhaps, he came back as a ghost himself.

Other key figures of the Old Army had faced similar problems as far as numbers go. Though all of them together had at least three times the number of truly powerful pokémon as the New Republic, the New Republic had over twice the number of trainers on their side, and therefore close to six times the number of pokémon. And just as Jenna had overpowered both Palkia and Ho-Oh in the past by overwhelming them with numbers, so too would entire sections of the New Republic's army make attempts at the lives of the Gym Leaders, the one member of the Elite Four, the two Champions, and Jenna.

Some of the Gym Leaders had also been injured by pokémon teleporting near them to gain the advantage of surprise; but towards the beginning of the battle, Mark and Tim had taken care of all those who tried. Now the only teleporting pokémon that the New Republic might have had at that battle were either dead or in hiding after seeing their comrades' deaths.

As the battle continued, Mark suddenly teleported onto Flame's back just behind Jenna; Flame faltered in the air for a second, momentarily allowing some bird pokémon to get near enough to Jenna to try for the kill.

Tim, however, was fast enough to take care of the enemies in spite of just completing a difficult teleport. Purple flames suddenly rose from the abra's body, and though they touched Mark, he was not burned; in a split second, the fire grew to some fifteen or twenty feet and formed a shape roughly equivalent to the head of some reptilian pokémon.

The sudden appearance of this monstrous form was enough to cause all of the bird pokémon to veer away from their target. But before any could escape far, the massive dragon head swung out and bit down upon a large number of them; the head itself disappeared as soon as its maw snapped shut. The bodies of trainer and pokémon alike were instantly engulfed by the purple flames; and no matter how fast their bodies fell, the flames refused to go out until Tim allowed the draconic flames that surrounded his own body to dissipate.

Jenna grinned maniacally as she watched the bodies falling. "Nice hidden power. My pokémon have all tried it, but they've never managed to master it to such an extent. Not to mention, Sandy is probably the only single one of my pokémon that's stronger than Tim, and so would be able to manage something like that. That was a dragon hidden power, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," Mark said absently, as if he was purposely trying not to think about what Tim had just done. "Tim, I do wish you'd save your energy. We've still got quite a bit of teleporting to do. Anyway, Jenna, Bugsy desperately needs you over on the right flank of the battle. Karen is destroying him – his scyther is already dead, and he was only barely able to return one or two of his other pokémon before mortal blows were dealt. Get over there, now."

Leaning down closer to her charizard's neck, Jenna chuckled a bit. "Shows what you get for having kids like him in battle. Even type advantage can't help him. Stupid kids, thinking they can be gym leaders with simple bug types. Anyway, Flame, zip by Silver and Rasu so I can return them to their pokéballs, then hurry over to the right flank."

Mark and Tim teleported away again, this time onto the back of a dragonite that was flying a good ways above the main part of the aerial battle. The whole purpose of this dragonite – which was, of course, one of Lance's – was for Mark to have a centrally-located base from which he could use his 'sight' to comprehensively view much of the battle. At Mark's command, the dragonite dove over to the right flank and hit one of Karen's many murkrow with a thunderbolt; to the murkrow's credit, it didn't faint. Instead, it flew to a relatively young, silvery-haired female trainer, who quickly withdrew it and turned to see her new opponent.

Karen hurriedly ordered her whole flock of murkrow (which she had apparently trained as flock specifically for large battles such as this, if their coordinated movements were anything to judge by) towards Mark, which was exactly as he had planned. Despite there being well over two dozen of the birds, Tim and the dragonite were easily able to fend them off. Meanwhile, Bugsy's two remaining a pokémon – a pair of heracross –were finally able to make a comeback against Karen's umbreon and houndoom thanks to the disappearance of the birds.

Still, they were tired. Though their bug and fighting attacks did a good bit of damage, they simply couldn't keep up with the houndoom's speedy movements and ranged fire-type attacks. Thankfully, just when they were reaching their limit, Jenna finally arrived. An absol that was standing guard at Karen's side warned her of the approach, and the dark-type trainer quickly got on the absol's back and recalled her houndoom and umbreon.

Mark sensed what was happening despite the storm of black feathers around him, and tried to order the dragonite to block off Karen's route of escape; however, though the dragonite was easily able to hold the murkrow at bay, he could not get past them no matter how hard he tried.

He also sensed Jenna trying to get to Karen, but she was forced to stop when a large number of the nearby New Republic troops began calling out more pokémon and having them aim all their attacks at Flame; Karen must have given some signal for them to cover her before fleeing to the back of the ranks. Mark gritted his teeth at the lost opportunity to capture or kill one of the enemy Elites, but didn't dare teleport after her now. Too many New Republic troops were now surrounding her.

"Well, she'll reappear at another part of the battle soon enough," Mark said to himself. "Let's get back above the battle, Tim."

Tim teleported himself, Mark, and the dragonite back to their starting point; the dragonite unbalanced a bit due to the different wind currents (which is why Mark hadn't done this to catch Karen in the first place), but the dragonite quickly recovered. Mark then had the dragonite swoop close to the ground – a very dangerous spot for any pokémon in flight – and fly along the length of the battle, so that he could get the best sense of what was going on.

As the dragonite dodged the attacks that were inevitably aimed at him as he flew along the ground, Mark saw that the battle was undeniably in their favor. Though Karen, Will, and Pryce were all present – as well as several other trainers probably deserving of all eight badges, and multiple trainers commanding the now infamous five gyarados – they simply could not keep up with the much larger number of insanely powerful pokémon. Their only possible method of attack had just been demonstrated by Karen: come out of the middle of a unit, strike quickly at any weak point, deal as much damage as possible, then retreat as the mediocre trainers get themselves killed in an effort to provide cover.

Mark assessed the battle with surprising composure, despite the jerky and fast movements of the dragon beneath him. Three gym leaders were out of action now: Morty, Bugsy, and now Whitney. What had happened to Whitney while he had been distracted, Mark couldn't be sure; but based on the suddenly depleted state of her unit, it appeared that at least one gyarados plus perhaps Will or Pryce had managed to take her down. Whether she had died in the assault, been captured, or had fled to the back of the lines, Mark didn't know.

As he got farther down the line, he realized that Will couldn't have been the culprit. He was currently locked in a battle to the death with an enraged Lance, and – unsurprisingly – he was losing. Mark saw that Lance's two dragonair and the dragonite he was riding were easily destroying the xatu and slowbro that were trying to defend their master. And as Mark watched, one of the dragonair slipped past the defenders, slithered over to Will, and wrapped its long body around the trainer.

Mark sensed the life quickly leave the once-great trainer as his spine snapped beneath the power of the coils. Both of the psychic types in battle felt him die, as well, and retaliated with blind rage; but even with the strength this anger lent them, Lance finished them off with little difficulty. Even as strong as Will had been, no mere Elite could possibly stand against Lance. Especially not an Elite who had betrayed the Champion, thus inciting the full wrath of both him and his dragons.

Whoever was giving the commands on that side of the battlefield must have known that Will was now dead, because all the troops on that side now started an organized retreat. The front ranks fled while the ranks farther back prevented any from following their fellow troops; then, once the formerly front ranks were far enough back, the formerly rear ranks repeated the action.

All the troops of the Old Johto army saw this and cheered as they pursued their quarry. Lance, of course, noticed as well, and began enacting the next stage of his plan. He scanned the skies, spotted his other dragonite in the sky, and flew up to it so that he and Mark were close enough to speak.

"Mark, you haven't been battling at all, have you?" Lance asked gruffly as he tore off a strip of his shirt and tied it around a large wound on his leg; apparently, even the Champion couldn't entirely avoid injury while in the thick of war.

"No, Sir," Mark answered. "Tim's had to defend a few times, and he's a bit tired from all the teleporting, but that's the extent of our troubles."

Lance nodded. "Good to hear. Follow me to land among our lines, near where Cynthia is; I'll return both of my dragonite to their pokéballs to make it easier on Tim, then I'll need him to teleport you, me, and Cynthia to the very edge of Goldenrod City. We'll be cutting off their escape and forcing their surrender."

Mark didn't question the command, though he doubted whether or not the three of them would be able to cut off an entire army. He was more concerned about where or not the three of them could keep themselves from getting killed when faced with the desperate remains of the New Republic's army. Though Cynthia and Lance were Champions, Mark was a mere five-badge trainer. He was good at strategy, but that only helped so much when being assaulted by dozens of pokémon at once.

The plan was executed quickly, and Cynthia, Lance, and Mark all found themselves about twenty feet from the first few housing developments that marked the southern edge of Goldenrod. The New Republic troops were still maybe half a mile away, but at the rate of their retreat, they could manage to make to it their position in as little as fifteen minutes.

Lance let out all of his pokémon; both Mark and Cynthia followed his example. Then Lance commanded, "Tear up the ground here as much as possible. Make craters and canyons with hyper beams; soak the ground with hydro pumps; whatever it takes. All we need to do is slow their progress so that they cannot get into the city. Now go."

And with that, he ordered his two dragonair, two dragonite, and charizard to use hyper beams, then commanded his gyarados to use hydro pump.

Cynthia chose a similar strategy: her gastrodon and milotic used water attacks, and her garchomp and lucario used earthquakes to break up the ground. Her last two pokémon – a roserade and a spiritomb – were incapable of such widespread destruction, and so stayed at her side, ready for battle if any of the retreating force reached them before they were ready.

Mark had to be a little bit more creative. He had his ditto transform into Lance's gyarados and begin using hydro pump; he had his zorua make the illusion of herself as a dragonite, to intimidate the New Republic troops should they arrive; and he had his castform create a small rainstorm to further muddy the ground. Tim, like roserade and spiritomb, didn't really have any attacks that could make a great impact on the landscape, so he limited himself to using psychic to uproot small trees and lay them down on their sides. And for the moment, Mark kept his other pokémon in their pokéballs, since they too couldn't do much to damage the land.

The three trainers and their pokémon continued this destruction for about fifteen minutes, and in that short span of time they so completely ruined the ground that it would probably take a good twenty minutes for any human to cross the fifty feet of small chasms, swampy earth, and craters.

Yet when the New Republic troops finally reached their side of the destruction, it wasn't because of these swamps and chasms that they stopped. They were desperate; they gladly would have tried to traverse it if it meant escape. They stopped mainly because they could see Lance, Cynthia, and Mark standing on the other side, with all of their pokémon ready and waiting.

Upon seeing that trio, many of the New Republic forces turned to try a reckless dash through enemy forces; but as soon as they saw people like Jenna and Bruno easily cutting down those troops that were still fighting, they didn't dare stick with the idea. Many looked back and forth in confusion, wondering what the best choice was: head back towards the opposing forces, head towards two Champions, or give in entirely.

The lucky few at the very edges of the trapped forced tried to make an escape from their prospective edges, where neither army nor torn ground stood in their way. As the first few broke away from the bulk of the army, however, they were picked off one by one by Faulkner's birds. Those on the flanks who had been planning on following them now chose to stay put.

The troops of the New Republic of Johto had been rendered completely immobile.

Lance got onto one of his dragonite and ordered it to fly a bit closer to the confused enemy ranks. "As you can see, you are trapped," he shouted out; though his voice wasn't notably deep or loud, it had a sort of menace within it that sent chills down the spines of all it was directed towards. "Withdraw all your pokémon and surrender. Who is your commander here?"

All the soldiers looked around hopefully for a few moments; but soon, this hope turned to resignation and many began returning their pokémon. Their problem was clear enough. Those leaders whom they looked around for were gone. And sure enough, Mark could sense none of the powerful trainers who had been directing the New Republic's side of the battle. Pryce, Karen, and numerous other highly-ranked trainers had disappeared.

Lance's gaze darkened as he realized what had happened; the war would have turned in his favor had those trainers been captured with the rest of their troops. Then he flew back to Cynthia and Mark, turned his anger-filled eyes to them, and said, "You two stay over here. We'll be slowly funneling the enemy troops around the sides of the mess we've made, and we'll confiscate their pokémon in the process. You'll just need to make sure none of them try to make a run for it. Kill any who try."

Though Mark and Cynthia both inwardly flinched at the brutality of this order, they nonetheless nodded their heads in acceptance of it. But as the process began, they found that they didn't need to worry about carrying out the order that Lance had made in his anger. Though the confiscation and moving of the conquered troops took hours, not a single person in this time tried to make an escape. Most had been reluctant enough to continue the battle as soon as they saw that Jenna and both Champions were present; now that the battle was lost, even those who were most attached to their pokémon didn't even consider resisting.

After many cold and miserable hours of Old Johto troops guarding the new prisoners of war as their pokémon were taken, all the troops and prisoner were escorted into the city itself. Mark knew the area well, and so he was the one to decide to move the prisoners of war to an arena in the south part of the city.

They met resistance along the way, of course; there were plenty of New Republic troops that had been left in the city itself. Despite the fact that nightfall was fast approaching, Lance ordered several squadrons to begin clearing out the enemy from the main parts of the city.

Due to all this activity, the sun had already fallen by the time Lance had both found an appropriate place to set up as the base of operations in Goldenrod and gathered together all those important in the war effort. And by that time, there was plenty for them to discuss.

"So Mark, what are the results of the battle? Do you have the numbers?" Lance asked as they began the meeting.

Mark nodded and stood. "We went into the battle with around nineteen thousand trainers. They had about forty thousand. Despite this discrepancy, Karen, Will, and Pryce were the only truly notable trainers on their side, as contrasted to the larger number of strong trainers on our side.

"Our initial tallies indicate that we have suffered nearly six thousand casualties, about half of which were deaths. They have nearly eleven thousand casualties, about seven thousand of which were deaths."

Cynthia and Faulkner both visibly reacted to the news, the former with sadness and the latter with disgust; all others kept a neutral face.

"So it's the bloodiest battle of the war yet, as we expected it to be," Lance said.

Mark replied flatly, "Yes. That is the result of having so many high-level trainers set against an army that was large enough that it would not immediately surrender or flee."

"We know that!" Faulkner said, obviously agitated. "Just tell us how many of us made it? What happened to Morty and Whitney?"

"Morty is still in critical condition, but it's believed that he will survive. Whitney is missing in action; either we have not found her body yet, or she was captured and taken by those who escaped. We suspect the latter." Mark spoke slowly and clearly, without any hint of emotion in his voice. But to the others in the room, it was obvious that he was, in his own way, just as upset as Faulkner.

For that matter, nearly all those who had survived the battle had been affected by it. The past battles had shed relatively little blood. Most trainers on both sides had been able to escape before their pokémon were completely overpowered and killed.

This battle had been different, however. The regular soldiers of the Old Johto army had been so outnumbered that escape had often not been possible; and, as Mark had mentioned, there was little that any but the largest groups of New Republic soldiers could do against high-level dragonite and milotic and tyranitar bearing down upon them.

Only Lance and Jenna appeared completely unmoved by the death and destruction that they had been pivotal in bringing about.

"What of the Eastern Front of Goldenrod?" Evan asked. "There were New Republic troops stationed on that front, were there not?"

Lance signaled for Mark to sit down, and then stood up himself. "It appears that they have retreated to Ecruteak. When they received word of the southern assault, their leadership probably guessed that they wouldn't be able to reach the battle in time to make much of an impact against our strongest trainers. From what we can piece together, it appears that several of the strongest trainers from that group did end up rushing over to battle. Many of those same trainers escaped with Karen and Pryce."

"That's all fine and dandy," Jenna said casually, "But I'd like to know how many _didn't_ escape. I know I took out a good number of high-priority targets."

"Will is dead, as are maybe ten of their top one hundred trainers," Lance said. "As important as all that is, however, we have a more urgent issue to consider. We managed to capture only two of the traitors' leaders; after questioning, one revealed that they have been alerted to the existence of a way to speed the evolution of pokémon. He also said that a number of pokémon had already been sent off for evolution; if not, this battle might have been much worse."

"Do we know where they were sent?" Mark asked, with just a hint of urgency making its way into his carefully guarded expression.

Lance looked at Mark carefully, as if judging whether or not the information he had would spur Mark to do something less than wise. In the end, he replied, "We don't have an exact location yet. As we suspected, it's top-secret even among those highly ranked in Team Rocket's organization. Both Koga's spies and our captives, however, have seen the trucks that were loaded with pokéballs headed towards Olivine. We suspect that Eve is being held either there or at Cianwood. As before, we will continue to keep her rescue a priority. If-"

A huge booming noise shook the building, causing everything in the room to rattle. Despite its loudness, it sounded as if it came from some distance away.

Lance's gaze narrowed, and he looked to Mark and Tim.

Mark nodded, understanding Lance's unspoken command. He and Tim teleported away; the Leaders, Elite, and Champions all waited in silence, anxious to know what had happened but knowing that Mark would get the information to them more quickly than any normal messenger could.

In five minutes, Tim and Mark appeared in the room again; both were covered with ash and dust and rubble. Whatever had happened, it had apparently been bad enough for Tim to wake himself up. He was still awake now, and though he was still perched on Mark's shoulders, he seemed like he might fall off at any moment due to exhaustion.

"There's been an explosion at Goldenrod Radio Tower," Mark said, quickly, breathlessly. "When one of our squads tried to enter the second floor, it seems as if a couple dozen voltorb exploded. I've already retrieved those who were still alive after the blast; however, the destruction is going to be massive when the tower falls over entirely, which it will. We need as much help over there as we can get, to help evacuate those closest to the tower. With your permission, Lance, Tim and I will return immediately and continue to do all that we can."

Lance nodded, and Tim and Mark disappeared. As soon as they were gone, Jenna half-snorted with derision. "And what's the use of blowing up that tower to Team Rocket? At most, a hundred of our troops could die from it, I guess. Not that many of the are near there at the moment. More civilians will die, but they don't particularly matter. Why waste so many perfectly effective voltorb?"

Already, all of the trainers in the room were hurrying out; even Lance was ignoring her. It was her husband who finally replied with a weary voice, "That tower could send out radio signals to nearly all of the Johto region. It was going to be our prime conveyor of propaganda. That tower alone was half the reason why Lance wanted so desperately to take Goldenrod."

Jenna only grinned at this idea as she, too, got up and headed towards the door to help. "First the initial takeover, then Eve, then this. Looks like those Rockets or the New Republic or whoever they are are always a step ahead. I can't help but wonder – was today really a victory? Or does the enemy just want us to think that?"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

After Eve's initial meeting with Brian, she was moved to a slightly larger room that – other than the fact that this one actually had a light switch – was no different than the place she'd first woken up in. A dinner meal was waiting for her when she arrived, though whether it was actually dinnertime or not was impossible for her to guess. She was absolutely starving by then, and so she'd eaten the meal and then gone straight to sleep.

The following day (if it really was day) set up what she presumed would be her routine for however long Team Rocket needed her. She was woken by a knock at her door and was led to a large, empty room. Two men brought in rolling containers so large that they could barely fit in the door, one of which was filled with pokéballs. One of the men released the pokémon one by one, and Eve laid her hands on them to try to make them evolve. Then the pokémon – evolved or not – was returned to its pokéball (each of which had a sticker with a name and platoon number on it) and placed in the empty bin.

Of course, Eve received meals, too. And they were decent meals. But other than those breaks to eat, her entire day was spent doing exactly what Team Rocket needed her for.

To her dismay, she found that nearly a fourth of all the pokémon brought to her were able to evolve. _How much more damage will be done to Mark and Katsu and Rose and everyone else if things keep up at this pace? _She thought to herself at the end of the second day as she lay on her bed in the darkness of her room. _If a quarter of all of these pokémon evolve, then Lance and everyone else will be in big trouble, no matter how strong they are. _

She felt strangely drained, to the extent that putting even that obvious fact into a coherent thought was difficult for her. It was hard to say whether this exhaustion was due to some strange aspect of how she caused evolution or due to the continuous emotional fatigue of knowing that Basil was dead.

And it was due to this exhaustion that it wasn't until the following morning that she finally thought of a way to both keep her pokémon safe and limit the damage she was doing to the Old Johto's army. She was following her guards to the evolution room when the thought entered her mind:

_What if I still went through the motions, but actively resisted allowing any pokémon to evolve? Pokémon can stop their own evolution, can't they? If I'm helping the process, could I stop it, too?_

She perked up without thinking; her guards didn't notice, but as soon as she entered the room, both men who handled the pokéballs apparently noticed something and stared at her searchingly. Eve realized that she was almost smiling, and she quickly tried to revert to the dull, sad demeanor that had possessed her ever since her kidnapping.

The men seemed to pass off the expression as nothing, and the first man took out a pokéball and let out the pokémon inside; but as Eve placed her hands on this first pokémon, the fact that they had clearly noticed her change in attitude filled her with doubts and fears.

_What if they suspect something and tell their superiors? _She asked herself as the first pokémon, a phanpy, evolved; she hadn't even tried testing her theory on this one, so suddenly afraid was she of the implications of getting caught. _Hannah, Aiden, Pebble, Thistle… Their safety is only guaranteed so long as I do this job correctly. If I get caught stopping evolutions, will Team Rocket do to one of them what they did to Basil?_

But as she placed her hands on the next five pokémon without any of them evolving, her mind wandered back again to Mark and all the others that would be fighting any pokémon that did evolve. Now that she had had her idea to help them, she couldn't easily dismiss it. _Besides, _she reasoned with herself, _What proof could Team Rocket come up with that would justify any retaliation against my pokémon? _

In the end, she decided that she had to at least try to keep too many pokémon from evolving. So when the next pokemon, a venonat, was called out, she inwardly willed it not to evolve, even if it was strong enough. With this intent in mind, she reached out her hands and touched them to the venonat's fur.

Almost as soon as they made contact, Eve felt an unpleasant tingling sensation in her hands. The venonat felt it, too, and shifted away slightly as he said, ~What's going on?~

Eve was horribly conscious of the men's eyes upon her, and she wondered if maybe part of their job was to carefully observe Eve's actions when evolving pokémon. But she nonetheless persisted in keeping the venonat from evolving, and in a few seconds, she withdrew her hands just as she would with any other pokémon incapable of evolution. And though both men's gazes seemed to pierce through her soul to the truth, they said nothing. Instead, they continued the process as if nothing had happened.

_I think he guesses that something's up… But he can't prove anything. I've just got to be careful. I'll only stop an evolution every five evolutions or so… And if that works for a while, then I'll slowly stop more, if I think I can get away with it._

Then she thought of Basil, and almost lost all her resolution. It could be Hannah next, who aside from Basil was the first pokémon to join Eve on her journey; or Aiden, who would without hesitation die for her; or it could be Pebble, who had comforted her when she had felt rage for the first time in years; or maybe it would be Thistle, whom Eve had raised from an egg and who was less than four months old.

But then she also thought of Tim, and Rose's pokémon, and Katsu's croconaw and servine and slowpoke and paras. Though Eve would without hesitation save one of her own pokémon over all of these, she now had the opportunity to possibly help them without endangering her own pokémon. _I can't just ignore the chance, even if it is risky, even if… Even if… But what if they do kill Pebble or Hannah or Aiden or Thistle?_

And though her mind was constantly going back and forth like this throughout the day, she nonetheless worked up the courage to stop a decent number of the evolutions. Oftentimes, she cried as she did this, due to both the near-pain her hand felt when she did so and her fear that she would be found out and her pokémon harmed.

This small effort to resist Team Rocket's control continued without any change for another five days. The doubts and fears never went away, even as time passed and Team Rocket did nothing to indicate that they had guessed what she was doing; if anything, she became even more paranoid the longer she went without being caught. Even when she got to see Thistle on the fifth of those five days of secret rebellion, it did nothing to ease her worry despite the fact that Thistle appeared perfectly healthy.

And even though she was more paranoid than ever after those five days, she went to bed that fifth night deciding that if she was going to be risking her pokémon anyway, she might as well step up her effort and stop the evolution of a slightly larger percentage of the pokémon she came into contact with.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She was woken by the customary knock the next morning. But as she was fumbling for the light switch, the door unexpectedly opened and someone snuck from the light of the hallway into the pitch-black room before closing the door behind him.

Eve froze for a moment, terrified. This wasn't how things happened when she was being taken to evolve pokémon. They normally gave her a couple minutes after the knock before opening the door and escorting her to her job. This was change, and it was scary change at that.

_Do they know? Could they possibly have found out? Are my pokémon… Are they…?_

"Eve, it's me," a voice came out of the darkness. And though she hadn't seen him even once since first arriving here – and, for that matter, couldn't see him now – she knew who it was.

"Brian?"

"Yes," the voice replied; it seemed like he was sitting on the floor somewhere near the door. "I want to make this quick, since even though the camera in here can't work unless the light is on, I'm afraid someone will find out. Luckily, the two guards on duty now have been friends with me for a while; and while they still want Team Rocket to succeed, they also sympathize with my position."

Eve calmed slightly, though she was still worried. Even if Brian was on her side, he wouldn't be here unless something had changed or would change. "What's going on? Why are you here?"

"You can't keep on not evolving pokémon," Brian said urgently, getting straight to the point. "They're onto you. The men who observe you and who manage the pokéballs sent to you have noticed some weird behavior, both by you and by some pokémon when they can't evolve. The numbers show that the last four or five days have yielded significantly lower results. But even that wouldn't be enough to condemn you if not for the fact that they've been sending some pokémon back to you after you've already had contact with them, and a few of these have evolved the second time."

Eve paled so much that if even the smallest bit of light could have entered the room, she might have appeared a ghost. So many pokémon were presented to her each day that there was no way she could keep track of them. Whichever side Brian was on, it was clearly well within the realm of possibility that this was the truth.

"Are my pokémon all right?" Eve asked.

"For now, yes," Brian said. "Those who make the decisions concerning you are excusing it for now. They think that maybe you've slowly become more exhausted after the first few days. They've even been giving you more time to sleep over the last day or two to try to reverse this, if it's the case. Or they think that maybe some pokémon simply have to be with you more than once for a few seconds. I don't know if those could be right or not, but if you really are purposefully stopping the evolution, as I supsect… Well, they'll eventually figure it out or guess it. Anyway, I'll leave now."

Eve heard a knock at the door, this one probably made by Brian; the door opened slightly in response, and Eve saw the form of Brian slink out as stealthily as he had first entered.

Eve sat in the darkness for several minutes without moving, stunned by Brian's unexpected visit and the news she had just received.

Then, slowly, she lay back down in her bed, her eyes still open to the oppressive black around her. Not a tear fell from her eyes, though, as her panicked mind finally comprehended what happened.

_They really are onto me._

_If not for Brian's warning, I would have made things more obvious to them._

_One of my pokémon might have died or been hurt because of me._

_One of my pokémon _would_ have died because of me. I'm sure of it._

And then the panic left, pushed out by resignation and despair.

_I can't keep on holding back the evolutions. Not even every now and then. Mark and Katsu and Rose and Lance and everyone else… I'll just have to apologize, if I ever see them again. No matter how much I hate it, I have to help the enemy as much as I can…_

_I won't allow another of my pokémon to die._

* * *

So, um, that's that! Out a bit early at the request of TubaHero something-or-other on this site, who I'm so glad finally got a fanfiction account! ^_^

Don't have much else to say (again), so thanks for reading!


	39. The Sound of Silence

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Sound of Silence**

Mark had always admired Koga, in a sense. After all, Koga had only poison-type pokémon, and yet he could appear and disappear as well as any teleporting psychic-type or ethereal ghost.

Yet as Mark and Tim teleported from room to room and building to building while feeling ahead with their minds for unoccupied places, Mark couldn't help but think that his was the way of the true ninja. After all, he knew exactly where everyone in the area was, and was able to bypass all of them without being seen by even the most vigilant sentry. It was a strange thought to have, especially considering the importance and the danger of what he was trying to do. As irrelevant as it was, however, it nonetheless invaded his mind and allowed a wry smile to flicker briefly onto his face before his thoughts once again turned to the task at hand.

"That next building is it, Tim," Mark said, terribly aware of the several other people moving groggily in a nearby break room in the small, office-filled section of the old factory he was in. Though the original equipment of the factory was no longer able to function – as was the case in many of the warehouses and manufacturing buildings in this area of Olivine City – Team Rocket had nonetheless been able to make use of this and others as small training facilities for new recruits and draftees.

At least, that's what all of the buildings appeared to be being used for at the moment. But if Koga's information was right, then the building up ahead held more than novice trainers and low-level military commanders.

"Can you feel much of anything there? It's still too far away for me to get much of a feel for anything but the very edge of it," Mark continued.

Tim didn't answer, of course; he understood his trainer perfectly, but like all pokémon was unable to devise a way to translate his answer into something a human would understand. Instead, he teleported himself and Mark to an abandoned nook behind some machines in the next warehouse.

Mark sensed around him, ignoring the shouts of trainers and pokémon who were training in the open space that began some twenty feet of machinery to his right. He immediately sensed something different about this place. The pokémon that were out and fighting were strong, and their trainers seemed more focused than the few lazy guards he had seen patrolling other nearby buildings. Plus, the fact that there were so many trainers up and active at this hour of the morning was significant. He could also sense a good number of pokéballs somewhere below them, in what seemed to be a basement filled with smaller, more numerous rooms.

Though already tense from the adrenaline pounding through his body, Mark now felt his heart begin to race. This was it, he was sure. He couldn't feel Eve yet, but his perception didn't have a wide enough span to reach through the entire building. She had to be here. The pokéballs, the strong trainers – it all pointed to Eve's presence.

His infiltration had been successful. Now, onto the next part of the plan. Lance had said to rescue Eve now, if he could manage it; but if she was too heavily guarded and even Tim's teleporting wouldn't be good enough to get them out, then he was to teleport back to Indigo Plateau, wait a day or two, then teleport back to here with several of the strongest trainers available.

"It's been two whole weeks since that battle for Goldenrod, Tim," Mark muttered. "And yet we weren't able to narrow Eve's location down to here until yesterday. Just shows how far they're going to keep her away from us. We'll need to move with extra caution from here on out. So can you feel her, Tim? Is there anywhere near her we can teleport, even if it's only for a moment?"

The abra simply dozed on his trainer's shoulders, doing nothing.

Mark scowled. Tim had heard him, he knew. So why wasn't Tim teleporting them? It didn't make sense, unless-

Suddenly, Mark felt a huge shift of activity in the area to his right. The large number of trainers – about twenty all told, not counting those emerging from other sections of the warehouse – had by some unspoken command all started rushing in one direction:

Straight for Tim and Mark.

Mark knew immediately that everything had gone wrong. "Tim, teleport! Get us as far away as possible!" He whispered urgently. Yet he could tell that Tim was already trying to do just that but that it wasn't working for some reason. Nothing like this had ever happened to Tim before, at least not so long as Mark had known him.

Mark started running away from the trainers attempting to swarm through the mess of conveyor belts and machine arms and scattered parts. He had an advantage over his pursuers in the sense that he could see every possible route and all the difficulties he'd have traversing them. In his mind's eye, the smallest, easiest to miss gap became an obvious escape route to a hard-to-reach area.

And as he ran, Mark felt around for a way out. There were two exits within his range of vision, but both were too heavily guarded for an escape by conventional means. As he sensed several of the faster, more nimble pokémon getting very close to finding him and attacking, he reached his hand down to his belt and grabbed the pokéball of Kiki, his ditto.

As he ducked underneath a large exposed pipe, Mark gasped out, "Tim, I'll hold them off for as long as I can, but you have to keep trying to teleport. I don't know what's-" But then he paused as he suddenly felt a couple pokémon apart from the rest, almost at the edge of his senses. He couldn't tell what they were from here, but he knew they were psychic types. And moreover, he could feel psychic energies coming from these and from other pokémon from elsewhere in the warehouse; and all these energies were focused on Tim.

Mark was shocked by this revelation. His unique vision had only ever allowed him to see physical things. He guessed it was the stress of this situation that was allowing him to see the insubstantial psychic waves, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. "Tim, I see what's wrong. You have to keep trying. Even if there are a lot of them, I know you can beat them."

As if his encouragement had done the trick, Mark suddenly found himself in an alleyway somewhere. Based on the look of the warehouses around him, he had to still be close to where they had been. He was about to ask Tim to get them farther away, but he quickly realized that his abra was on the very verge of fainting; whatever the psychic pokémon had been doing to prevent the teleportation, breaking through it had taken all of Tim's strength and concentration.

He clenched the pokéball that was in his hand, wondering what to do next. He couldn't stay where he was for long. He had sensed at least one houndour in the group of pokémon that had been chasing him; if Team Rocket had even the slightest guess that he might still be around and unable to leave, then the houndour's keen sense of smell would find him quickly. That is, if any nocturnal bird pokémon they had didn't find him first.

Mark released Kiki from her pokéball; if not for her pinkish color, the little blob of a pokémon might just have been another bit of gunk among the trash that surrounded them.

"Kiki, transform into Tim and get us as far away from here as possible. Out of the city, if you can manage it," Mark ordered, his ears and mind alert to any and every noise and movement for maybe an eighth of a mile in every direction. "The best way would be that way, if my memory serves." It was as dark as a murkrow's feathers outside, but in the direction he pointed the faintest of glow could be seen in the sky by his ditto; morning was coming, slowly but surely. Mark knew that if he didn't get out of Olivine by daylight and get Tim some rest, it would be extremely tough for him to find a way out of the city without getting caught.

The little pink pokémon felt the urgency in her trainer's voice and quickly transformed herself into an abra. To anyone except maybe Eve and other pokémon, she probably appeared to be a carbon copy of Tim. Even Mark couldn't tell the difference, except in the way that Kiki held herself.

In a moment, Mark found himself among some trees in the front yard of someone's house. He guessed that he was probably in a suburb, and therefore out of the worst of the danger. Based on spy reports, Team Rocket closely inspected only those who came and went from the city proper.

Mark looked down to Kiki, who was once again the pink blob of her usual self. Though physically she was fine, it had taken all of her concentration to teleport herself, Tim, and Mark this far, to the extent that she hadn't even been able to maintain the abra form.

He picked the ditto up in his arms and began walking down the street in front of him. "I can't risk returning you to your pokéball here, where someone might see the light," Mark murmured to her. "But as soon as you're able, I'll need you to teleport us away from here again. Once we're in the wooded area east of all the suburbs, we'll hopefully find a large bird pokémon or something for you to transform into. Until then… Stay alert, Kiki. With Tim too tired to do anything, you and Martin might be our only hope if it comes down to a battle." Martin was his kecleon, who was the third in line as far as toughness went on Mark's team.

Kiki sunk deeper into Mark's arms, welcoming the comfort of his grasp. But at the same time, she moved her beady eyes back and forth, ready to do whatever it would take to help her trainer.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So… she wasn't there," Lance said solemnly, his voice slightly hoarse from the many long nights of running the war. "And you think it was possibly a trap for you and anyone you might have brought with you?"

Mark nodded, his own eyes drooping with exhaustion. Mark had originally arrived in Olivine in the middle of the night, and the journey from Olivine back to the Indigo plateau had taken over five hours; these two circumstances together had left him very much fatigued. Not to mention, riding on a stantler-transformed Kiki while they slowly picked their way through the wilds of Johto was not the most restful of experiences, nor was riding a pidgeot from Goldenrod City to the Indigo Plateau very enjoyable when it was the middle of winter.

"As you know, psychic protection of very valuable things isn't unheard of," Mark said wearily. "Pyschic pokémon can sound an alert if someone teleports in or if a ghost-type pokémon is being used to scout ahead. I thought I'd be fine, due to the bustle of the trainers and pokémon I found upon arriving – many psychic pokémon don't have the ability to ignore all that activity and focus on what really matters.

"But the fact that they somehow managed to use their psychic-types to prevent Tim from teleporting concerns me. That, and the fact that the trainers who were up and about were so ready to rush me once some command had been given. Either they had inside information and knew I would be infiltrating – which is doubtful, since I trust both you and Koga, who should've been the only ones with knowledge of it – or they had set up that building as a trap all along. Considering Tim's ability and how closely I worked with Eve, it probably wasn't hard for them to guess that I'd come looking for Eve eventually, with or without your permission."

A strange emptiness could be heard in his voice even aside from the obvious exhaustion. And this emptiness was different from his politician's mask; whereas that was simply feigned emptiness, his voice now was truly devoid of emotion. The fact that he had been unable to even find Eve when he'd been so sure that she would be there… It was almost too much for his war-torn mind to bear.

Though tired as well, Lance's voice was nowhere near so lacking in emphasis. "I'll have a discussion with Koga to see if there is any chance he leaked word of the mission to one of his spies. I'll also have him take a good look at how loyal his spies are. In the meantime, you'll need to get some sleep. With Mahogany Town already retaken by the New Republic of Johto, and with Violet and Goldenrod Cities doing all they can to fortify their defenses against the increasing number of evolved pokémon, we'll be needing you as rested as possible so that you can aid in the defense."

Mark inclined his head slightly in assent, and left the room without saying a word.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve had completely lost track of how long it had been since she'd been captured. She guessed it had been three weeks at least, but it also could've been as long as two months. When she didn't even know how long she was allowed to sleep or forced to stay awake, there was no possible way for her to judge time.

Still, things weren't as bad as they could have been. She would've been terribly bored, she supposed, had she not been evolving pokémon from the time she was awoken to the time she was too tired to stay awake. Her meals were still fine, and she'd even been upgraded to a somewhat larger room with an actual shower for her to use; that was a relief after a couple weeks of feeling dirty, though her mind had been so preoccupied with her situation that she'd hardly noticed her need to bathe.

And her pokémon were still safe. That was the main thing that made her captivity tolerable. So long as they were safe, she felt like she could go on.

But even with this assurance, Eve's mental state was less than sound. The only people she was around were the silent men who guarded her and who let out the pokémon for her to evolve. The only pokémon she was around were the ones she evolved, and very occasionally her own pokémon. This practical seclusion had put her in the habit of talking aloud to herself about the most inconsequential things; and while this was hardly damaging to her, she knew that it couldn't bode well for how she might be acting and thinking in another month or two.

She was also still grieving for Basil, which didn't help things. Sometimes, when she was talking to herself, she found that she would be trying to speak to Basil; it was only when he didn't reply that she remembered that he was dead. If Basil had died under regular circumstances, she might have been over it by now, though still sorrowful. In that sense, she was indeed very much a pokémon. Pokémon often became sad when those close to them died, yet long-term grief was something that was completely foreign to them. They treated death exactly as a human might treat the moving away of a friend – sad because it would be impossible for one to see the other, but insignificant other than that. Perhaps they had no solid concept of death. Or perhaps they had some insight into the true nature of death that every human – including Eve herself – simply couldn't understand.

Either way, this almost ignorance of death would have been the case with Eve, as well. But due to the stress put on her mind ever since Basil's death, part of her seemed unable to remember that he actually was gone.

Eve had just finished eating her mid-workday meal in her room when she heard the door open behind her. She murmured wearily to herself and got up, expecting this to be her guards ready to take her back to her job; but when she turned around and looked up, it was Brian standing there.

"I'd suggest you sit down again, Eve," Brian said dolefully as he looked back at Eve. "I'd rather this wasn't my job, but… I've got something that Team Rocket wants me to tell you." He took the other seat at the table she was at; this table and the two chairs next to it were other aspects of how Eve's conditions had improved slightly during her time here.

Now, she had the feeling that perhaps these new conditions would change. Whether the change would be for the better or the worse, she couldn't rightly say. But with Brian suddenly appearing once again, she had no doubt that some change was coming.

She sat down silently, her eyes trained grimly on Brian's downcast face. "What is it?" she asked, the fear in her voice obvious.

Brian let out a big breath of air, breathed in once more as if to steady himself, and then said, "What Team Rocket wants me to tell you is that… Well, up until now, they have guaranteed your pokémon's safety in return for your cooperation in evolving whatever pokémon they bring to you. And so long as you continue to cooperate in that, Team Rocket promises to continue to guarantee their safety, no matter what. However…"

He trailed off for a few moments, took another deep breath, and then continued, "However, they have said nothing of your own comfort and safety. They want to bring that to the betting table, as well."

Eve looked down at her hands, which were folded on top of the wooden table. Her palms were sweating, and she could see her fingers trembling. For a moment, she seemingly forgot Brian's presence in the room and said to herself, "I don't know how to deal with this… My fingers are trembling. I don't even know what he's going to ask. I don't even know that. Maybe it won't be so bad." Then she looked up and, once again realizing that Brian was just a couple feet in front of her, she said to him, "And what do they want me to do for them this time?"

"They want you to summon legends for them," Brian replied.

"And what if I can't?" Eve replied, actually somewhat relieved. Because the fact was, she couldn't. It was only chance – or fate, or something – that had brought the legendary beasts to her to begin with, and it was only with their help that she'd managed to get any other legends summoned. All she needed to do was make Team Rocket understand that. "I told Hope practically everything; she should've let you know that I can't just will them to come to me. Nothing will happen."

Brian dropped his gaze. Eve looked down at the table as well, and saw that his hands were clenched tightly. "I only wish that were true," he answered. "But apparently, there's something you've forgotten. Team Rocket was hoping that you'd do it yourself, but-"

"What are you talking about?" Eve asked, concerned. _What could I have forgotten? What could I have done while so completely confined by Team Rocket?_

"It's Suicune, Eve," Brian said, speaking as if ashamed for having to bring it up. "Hope said that you told her that you could summon Suicune simply by calling out her name. Team Rocket wants you to call her to you, so that they can capture her. And they want you to help them in whatever other similar ways you can. They want to take those feathers from your hair," he glanced up at the rainbow- and silver-colored feathers, "and run tests on them, to see if maybe you could summon either Ho-Oh or Lugia again by somehow using the powers in the feathers. And they have people looking into what the legendary beasts told you about the legends you can summon – they hope that maybe they can find the next one that you need to find, so that they can catch it for themselves if the Ho-Oh and Lugia plan doesn't work."

In spite of herself, her heart almost leaped up at this latter part of Team Rocket's plans. Her compulsion to find the other legends had not subsided at all during her captivity. But she quickly pushed that hope from her mind; she couldn't even begin to imagine the consequences of Team Rocket catching anything as strong as Ho-Oh and Lugia. And she had no doubt that they could do it. After all, if Jenna could manage to take down an enraged Ho-Oh all by herself, then it was likely that a large group of Team Rocket's forces would be able to do exactly the same thing.

_And as for Suicune… How could I betray her like that? She risked everything she had for me. Even as bad as they were, Ho-Oh, Raikou and Entei were the only family she had. And they ended up disowning her because she helped me. _And even the truth of these thoughts didn't halfway explain the instinctual disgust she had at the idea of calling Suicune into a trap. Something about the idea felt so intrinsically wrong that the thought of it nearly made Eve physically ill. Suicune was the very incarnation of the north wind, just as her brothers were incarnations of the wildest of fires and the strongest of lightning storms. Nothing could possibly justify their caging.

Eve had said nothing for a while, and so Brian once again began to speak. "Eve, I hope you'll just do as they ask. I don't want to see them do anything more to you than they already have. I think you're right, and that no matter what you do, you won't be able to just summon Ho-Oh or Lugia. And I doubt even an organization with resources like Team Rocket could possibly find things that have been nothing more than myths for centuries. If these guesses are true, then all you have to do is give up those feathers and summon Suicune. And Suicune isn't all that strong, when compared to the entire strength of both armies; it won't change the tides of the war at all."

"And what'll they do to me if I can't?" Eve asked, trembling once again. "Because I can't take the feathers out of my hair. I bet Team Rocket has already tried to pull them out or something, maybe when I was first captured and completely knocked out. And Suicune… I don't think I can betray her like that, regardless of whether or not she would be important in the war."

"But Eve, that's foolishness," Brian said urgently. "Other than perhaps when they first capture her, they aren't going to abuse Suicune or anything. They'll knock her out, put her in a pokéball, and then hopefully she'll listen to them. They'll do just enough to get her to obey their commands in battle. Based on what Hope said that you told her, they think that Suicune will do anything if they say that it'll keep you safer."

_And on that matter, you're right. _Eve thought guiltily. _Even though I haven't seen her in however long its been since I summoned Ho-Oh, I got the feeling that I was all that she had left. She said that I reminded her of Yellow, after all, and Yellow was the last human she and her trainer were with before they all died. If I did summon her… maybe I could just convince her to go along with things, at least until we can find a way out of this mess._

But the very thought of it still made her gag audibly, no matter how well she might logically be able to excuse the action of saving herself by letting Suicune be captured. "Brian, I ask again… What will happen to me if I can't?"

"They'll torture you," Brian said, his voice dead serious. "They'll go about it gradually, probably, since even they don't like to resort to that kind of thing. They'll put you back in the room you were in at first, and keep you there for a long time without any contact with anyone and without any food. Or else they'll keep you evolving pokémon for as long as they can force you to stay awake. They've talked about both these options. I don't know exactly what else they'll do, but it'll get worse the longer you refuse what they ask. Eve, you don't deserve that kind of treatment. You'd be putting up with so much and doing so little to help either yourself or anyone else. Eventually, you'd given in and they'd make you call Suicune. You might as well just do it now, and get it out of the way."

Brian seemed to wholeheartedly believe that this was the best course of action, and part of Eve just wanted to give in to his judgment. She didn't trust him completely yet, of course, but he genuinely did seem to be on her side.

Even so, she just couldn't bring herself to consent to the action. At the very least, she couldn't bring herself to do so without even trying to do all that she could to resist it. After all, it was only her own safety at stake now if she refused Team Rocket's demands. And she knew they wouldn't kill her. She just had to see if she could last until… Well, she assumed until the New Republic of Johto was beaten or Lance somehow managed to find her and send in a rescue team.

As if sensing her thoughts, Brian said, "And you should know… Earlier today, your friend Mark attempted to break into one of Team Rocket's compounds. It was a place set up specifically to try to draw Lance's attention away from this place. It took them all this time to even find the fake place, and even then Mark only barely got away. They won't be able to find this place, nonetheless infiltrate it and save you and your pokémon. If you're just trying to hold out until they can find you, it's not going to work. I know enough about the lengths Team Rocket is going to hide you that there is no way anyone from the Old Johto will possibly find you. "

_I'd guessed as much,_ Eve thought bitterly. _But even so, I can't just give in without trying to keep Suicune safe. _

"I still can't do what Team Rocket is asking of me," Eve said. "Regardless of what they'll do to me."

Brian pushed his chair out from beneath the table and stood up slowly. "I was hoping you'd listen to reason. But I'm sure your pokémon will agree with me; maybe they can convince you. It's the scheduled time for you to see one of them, anyway. The only one you haven't gotten to see yet is your dratini, right?"

Eve stood up and nodded, her excitement to see Pebble dampened by everything else Brian had just told her.

"All right, then follow me." Brian went out of the room; Eve followed, and the two guards at the door came after her. They took the usual path down to the large gym area, and there found someone waiting with Pebble's pokéball in hand. He released the dragon from his pokéball as soon as the door was closed.

But before Eve could say anything to Pebble and ask him for advice like she wanted to, Brian began to address the long blueish dragon. "Dratini, Eve doesn't want to summon Suicune and let her be captured. If she doesn't, then she's going to go through a lot of unnecessary pain. I don't want to see that. Please, just try and convince her otherwise."

Pebble turned his large, curious eyes from Brian back to Eve as she walked up to him, sat down right in front of him, then wrapped her arms around his long neck. Sensing that she needed comfort, Pebble slithered from her grasp and wrapped his long body around Eve as many times as he could manage, just as he had done when he and Eve had first met at the Lake of Rage. Though Eve was now completely encircled by Pebble, the near complete darkness around her hardly bothered her. In fact, she felt more comforted than she had since Basil's death.

Eve heard the guards panicking slightly at her disappearance beneath Pebble's coils, and then heard Brian's voice above theirs telling them not to panic, and that he was sure she was fine. Inwardly, she thanked him for that; she didn't want Pebble to be taken away from her any sooner than was necessary.

Once Eve heard the commotion cease, Pebble began to hum soothingly. ~Eve, what's going on?~ he asked, the pitches of his hum changing slightly as he spoke. ~What's happened to you?~

Eve moved her hand slightly within the coils, so that she could stroke the stretch of Pebble's body nearest to it. "Oh, Pebble… Basil's dead, and I'm being held captive by Team Rocket so that they can get me to evolve pokémon for them. I wouldn't do it, but they threatened you and Hannah and Aiden and Thistle if I didn't cooperate," Eve whispered, hoping that the guards wouldn't be able to hear her through Pebble's body and over his humming. "And now, you heard what Brian said. If I don't summon Suicune, then they'll pretty much torture me until I do."

~So why didn't you just agree?~ Pebble asked, in a way that was more curious than persuasive towards any action.

"It just doesn't seem right. I can barely even bear the thought of doing it," she answered. "But… I'm not a strong person. I don't think I'd be able to hold out for long."

Pebble hummed more loudly. ~Human right and wrong is different from pokémon right and wrong, you know. For pokémon, you could almost say it doesn't exist at times. After all, we can kill one another with no qualms whatsoever. But when we do feel that something is right or wrong – well, there's no fighting it. It's an instinct that overwhelms, to the point that a pokémon would kill itself rather than allow the wrong to be done. If you can't even think of betraying Suicune, then perhaps this is something like that.

~And you are strong, Eve. Perhaps not in the way that humans define strength, but in the pokémon way. Humans are strong if they can fight for honor and keep their pride and do what they think is right, even when they don't fully comprehend why it is right. That's noble in it's own way, I suppose. You have no pride or honor; otherwise, you would have sacrificed us four pokémon as well as your own well-being for the sake of the thousands of people fighting with Lance and Mark. But did you have any doubts on whether we or they were the more important?~

"Of course I did, I-"

~Not regrets, Eve. Doubts. Was there any doubt in your mind as to what you would do?~

Eve thought for a moment, then answered, "No, I suppose not. As soon as Brian told me the threat, I knew I had to do whatever Team Rocket ordered me. I suppose they probably didn't realize how automatic it was; otherwise, they'd have asked everything of me when threatening that first time."

~That was that instinct of right and wrong. You see, that's where the strengths of humans – their pride and cunning and logic – differ from the strengths of pokémon. The greatest strength that pokémon have is when their instincts are aroused. The pokémon who are truly strong will rely on those instincts when times get tough, and refuse to give in when there is a right to be done or a wrong to be avoided. This can apply to nearly everything a pokémon does: a marowak risking the life of herself and the lives of her children in order to save a human whom she had befriended… A pidgeotto allowing her rage to run wild at the sight of her empty nest… A growlithe willing to do anything for a human who showed him a bit of kindness in a dark alleyway… Or a legend fighting her only family in order to save a human who didn't deserve death.

~All of these are cases of instinct, of pokémon doing what they felt was right even when other options might have been smarter or more helpful to those they cared for. The question is, are you willing to rely on that same instinct to protect Suicune, no matter the cost?~

"Of course!" Eve replied, feeling like she finally understood why she so vehemently detested the idea of betraying Suicune. "But the problem is, I know that it will be all too easy for me to give in. I won't be able to avoid it. I'll call out to her for help in a moment of pain, and I'll regret it as soon as I say it, but I won't be able to take it back. I'm scared of pain, and scared of what Team Rocket will do to me."

The humming grew louder, so that Eve's ears were ringing with the sound. ~Then prepare yourself for the moment when you're at your weakest. From now on out, say nothing. If you can keep yourself from calling out now – from saying anything at all – before things become truly bad, then I know that you'll be strong enough when things are worse than you can possibly imagine.~

Pebble uncoiled his body and slithered back to just in front of Eve. ~Your instinct will help you. That much I know. If it is wrong for you to summon Suicune here, then every part of you will rebel against taking that action. And please, just remember… If it does come down to it and these people end up threatening the lives of me and the others despite their earlier promise, then you can know that there is no guarantee that they will keep, and therefore no reason to give into any of their demands. If that happens, be strong and know that our own instincts would drive us to death in order to do what you think is right.~

Pebble turned away from Eve and, before the man holding his pokéball quite realized what was happening, he touched his nose to the opening mechanism and returned to his pokéball.

And even though Eve knew it would bring her much pain, she now knew what she had to do. She stood up, and looked at Brian with an expression that she hadn't had since the crushing event of Basil's death. For now, her eyes once again possessed determination.

"So Eve, did he talk you into it?" Brian asked. "Will you summon Suicune?"

Eve remained silent.

Brian scowled slightly. "Eve, did you hear me? Will you do it, for your own sake?"

And still she didn't answer.

"Eve, what's wrong?" Brian asked, confusion and some either emotion mixed on his face. "Why won't you speak?"

But now, one of the guards – a tough-looking man with a not unkind-looking face – spoke up. "Brian, it's no use. I think she's made her choice. Perhaps she resents you for trying to force her into a decision she couldn't make. All that's left for us to do is bring her back to her room and wait for the higher-ups' decision on what to do with her."

Brian's scowl deepened as he looked to Eve. "Eve, if he's right… This is your last chance. Just say you'll do it – it doesn't even have to be now. Say you'll do it in a week, or a month, or if they let you see your pokémon more. They'd let you, if it could only get them Suicune or any other legend. Please, Eve, don't force this upon yourself. Do it now, or I'm sure they'll start whatever punishment they want to do right away."

But the sound of Eve's silence was the only reply the pleading man received.

* * *

Writing this chapter was so enjoyable... Not necessarily because the content was any more enjoyable, but it just formed itself into words so easily, for some reason. Anyway, I just want to say sorry for not getting out a chapter last week. I don't really have an excuse for it, except that I ended up being busier than I thought I'd be.

And by the way, my compliments go out to all of you who remembered that Suicune could still be called by Eve. ^_^ Eve's just been too stressed out until now to really think of it. And now... Well, will it happen? Or can she resist? I suppose you'll see...

Also, a couple of you have mentioned that you feel like the story is at it's climax. Um... not really. While the story shall *hopefully* be moving more quickly to its finale now that I don't have everything planned out, there's still quite a bit left. After all, three out of the five 'shards' still have to be found and obtained, and she doesn't have any clue where these might be... If I was a good writer and actually knew how to pace my stories, then yeah, I ought to be close to the ending; but I drag things out. Just look at this entire 200,000+ word story, or my other 200,000+ word story (which I forget if I mentioned that I just started writing in again, after a long delay)... My point is, my stories are rarely reasonable in length.

EDIT: Sorry, some really stupid mistakes in the first version of this chapter. Fixed now, hopefully. And the chapter title is as it should be now.


	40. Unexpected Help

**Chapter Forty: Unexpected Help**

As Brian had suspected, it didn't take long for Team Rocket to drastically change their treatment of Eve. Maybe ten minutes after Brian had left, she found herself being led to what appeared to be a small medical room, complete with operation table and plenty of ominous-looking pointy objects. She was forced onto the operating table and strapped down so that she couldn't move any part of her body; when they started to pull and cut and rip and tear at her scalp to remove the feathers, her struggles were nullified.

The only thing that she could have done was scream, but by her own will she was incapable even of this. Pebble's words seemed to resound through her head with each increase of pain, as did her own personal commitment to keep herself from betraying Suicune. So she let the tears of pain fall while keeping even the slightest of moans from escaping her lips.

Soon, the people who were working on the feathers came to the conclusion that they simply would not come out of Eve's hair, no matter how hard they tried. It was as if the hair entangling the feathers had itself become indestructible and was no longer able to be uprooted even by the most drastic means.

So Eve – trembling from the pain and conscious of a small amount of blood dripping from her scalp to her face, despite some bandaging – was led back to the evolution room to continue her work.

And continue her work she did, for hours and hours without any break. Before now, she had developed a rough way for keeping track of time: the process of letting a pokémon out, trying to get it to evolve, then returning it to its pokéball took about the same time for each pokemon, and so Eve counted that time per pokémon and multiplied it as best she could by the number she encountered. Based on this time keeping, her exhaustion, and the rumbling of her stomach, she eventually guessed that she had been working for hours longer than usual.

Yet still, she was forced to continue. They gave Eve a water bottle after some time, and she gratefully gulped the liquid down her throat. After that, they gave her some more water every couple hours. But even when a day had passed since her talk with Brian, she received neither food nor the chance to rest.

She guessed it had been maybe thirty hours since that talk with Brian – which meant maybe thirty-six hours total since she'd originally woken up – when she reached her limit and literally began falling asleep on her feet. In response, one of her guards brought out an electrike and began to have it use thundershock attacks on her whenever she dozed off and wasn't doing her work. The attacks were purposefully weak, right at the border between uncomfortable and painful. And though they weren't as strong as they might have been, they did their job in the sense that Eve had no choice but to wake up at each shock and place her hands on whatever pokémon she'd fallen asleep in front of.

It was a few more hours after this started that she completely passed out and even the shocks weren't able to wake her up. When she awoke again after what felt like no time at all, she was in the small, cramped room that she had been brought to when she'd originally been kidnapped. She didn't have any time to dwell on this, however. The sound of knocking had woken her, and that sound was followed almost immediately by someone opening the door, grabbing Eve's arm, and pulling her from the uncomfortable bed she'd been placed on.

And then it started again. She got a very small amount of food this time, but other than that, nothing changed. She was exhausted and starving and constantly feeling on the verge of collapse, and yet Team Rocket gave her no let up in her evolutionary duties. With each hour that passed, she felt her will slowly wearing away. She just wanted to eat, or sleep, or be left alone. A couple times, she almost said something to herself, though what exactly it was she would have said was a mystery even to her; in her stupor, she really wasn't sure what was going through her mind.

But every time the words almost came, she quickly bit them back. Somehow, she kept even the slightest sound from escaping.

That night – or whenever it was that they dragged her back to bed for an hour or two of rest – she was awoken yet again by a knock. And though this knock, too, was followed by someone entering the room, Eve wasn't drug from her bed as she had been the previous day.

"Eve, quickly, get up," a voice said to her urgently as someone grabbed her arm and shook it. "I bribed the guards and those on monitor duty so I could get in here without being caught, but we don't want to press our luck."

Eve opened her eyes to the glaring light of the ever-illuminated fluorescent bulb; she shut them again momentarily, turned her head towards the voice, then opened her eyes again. In a few seconds, her bleary vision cleared and she saw Brian in front of her, unloading from a bag what appeared to be a couple of dinner rolls and some beef jerky.

Eve's hunger overcame her weariness, and she made a grab for the proffered food. As she quickly ate as much as she could, Brian continued, "I'll do what I can for you, but if I get caught, then you'll be completely on your own. Please, why don't you just summon Suicune? Maybe I'm just trying to lighten my own conscience, since it's half my fault that you're here in the first place, but… Surely her being captured is better than you being starved half to death, isn't it?"

Eve swallowed the bit of beef jerky she had in her mouth, met Brian's gaze with her own sunken eyes, then silently shook her head.

"Won't you at least talk to me, Eve?" Brian asked as he handed Eve another roll. Eve took it, but her eyes stayed resolutely trained on Brian. "Explain why it is you won't summon Suicune. Maybe I can work out a deal with the Rockets if they think I've 'guessed' what you're thinking and why you're motivated so strongly to protect Suicune."

She shook her head again, then started eating the roll. She felt almost ready to throw up from eating so much after being starved, yet her hunger was so great that she forced the bread down her throat anyway.

Brian sighed, and handed her another strip or two of beef jerky. "I wish you'd just say _something_. But if you won't, I don't see what I can do to make you. I'll bring you more when they let you rest again. Just make sure you hurry up and finish that food now, and don't try to hide it or anything. There's a chance it might be found. I'll be off for now, and I'll keep on doing all I can to make those in charge ease up a little bit."

Eve watched him walk out the door, and for a moment she just stared at the empty space where he had been. Then she almost completely forgot about him as she turned back to her food, her exhausted mind unable to think of more than one thing at a time.

She fell asleep again as soon as she was finished eating. A knocking once again woke her up, and she assumed the regular routine was beginning again. She was drug once again from her bed. But as soon as she found herself outside her room, she saw that there were more people in the hallway than usual. She blinked a few times, her eyes still adjusting to the light.

When she could see clearly again, she gasped. In front of her was Brian, his unconscious body being held between two muscular men. Eve saw that huge bruises and small lacerations covered him. It was most obvious on his arms, which were exposed; but his shirt was torn and the blood that soaked through it was so obvious that she knew that there were probably worse injuries on his torso.

A man standing a little ways away from the unconscious figure suddenly spoke up, and in a stoic voice said, "This is what will happen to anyone else who tries to help you. Even worse will be done if you accept anyone else's help. That is, until you summon Suicune or another legend for us. What do you say? Why don't you just do it?"

But Eve just stood there, aghast. Before now, she'd never completely trusted Brian. Even when he'd tried to help her, an image of him when he'd been campaigning had always popped into her head, and she'd never been quite sure which was the real Brian. In the face of this massive amount of injury, though, any doubt she possessed evaporated. Eve wholeheartedly doubted that anyone – even the most dedicated of Team Rocket employees, which Brian could've been in theory – would go through this sort of pain when other less drastic means of gaining her trust were available.

And she could tell that this wasn't just faked. This wasn't just good acting and amazing makeup. Even her sleep-deprived eyes could see the blood dripping from the fresh wounds, and the massive bruises seemed to get bigger by the second. Every time one of the two guards that held him shifted slightly, an unconscious intake of breath could be heard as his pained response.

She had barely heard the man's original question, and after looking at Brian's body she had already completely forgotten that the man had even said anything. But the overall message had stuck in her brain either way. This had happened because Brian had helped her, and all she'd have to do to stop both her own suffering and anything like this from happening was to call Suicune.

She opened her mouth, as if to speak. But not a syllable came from her mouth.

The man who had spoken to Eve waited patiently for a minute or two, but when the silence continued, he ordered that Brian and Eve be taken to where they needed to be.

And thus did the routine resume once more.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mark patrolled the outer ring of Goldenrod's defenses in the pitch-black of the night, keeping his mind alert for any weak points in the mounds of metal and dirt and debris. He had gotten used to having little rest, and the fact that he was missing out on sleep right now didn't bother him much; like all those who were in the higher ranks of the Old Johto army, he spent so much time either in battle or helping with strategy that a good night's sleep had become a long-forgotten luxury.

On this particular evening, his job took more concentration than usual. Despite the three or four inches of snow that covered the ground, the New Republic had started a huge assault earlier today. The Old Johto had only learned of the attack when the enemy had begun marching two days ago, and so there hadn't been adequate time to properly reinforce the already heavy barricades that shielded all of the north side of the city, as well as the northern quarter of the two flanks. Though the Old Johto had successfully repulsed the foe's first attack today, heavy damage had been done to the first ring of defenses.

Mark's job now was to use the cover of night to take note of any failings so that repair teams could do some quick work before dawn the next morning. All of these flaws in the defense he marked down on a strange looking map covered in a collage of slightly raised paper squares and lines; these represented the city and the barricades, respectively, and the depth helped him to quickly locate his position on the map and mark down whatever sections needed fixing.

The biting cold of the snow hardly bothered Mark at all. If anything, he welcomed the cold and the numbness it brought with it. The chill as well as his brain-numbing task helped him get his mind off of the fact that Eve had been under Team Rockets control for nearly ten weeks now. It was a thought that constantly haunted him, and one made all the worse by the fact that Koga's spies as of yet had no leads as to where she might be. It appeared that the pokéballs collected from soldiers actually went through many different locations under the New Republic's control before being returned to their owners. And since the pokémon were always in their pokéballs when being transported, there was no way to tell which of the dozens of locations was receiving unevolved pokémon and popping out the powerful evolutions that were giving the Old Johto so much trouble.

Tim suddenly tensed, and Mark immediately stopped what he was doing, alert for whatever it was that Tim's keener perception had sensed. In a few seconds, he became aware of the steady crunching of someone walking through the snow. Or several someones, or maybe a someone and a pokémon or two; for the moment, Mark wasn't sure. All he knew was that all of the Old Johto sentries were withdrawn to the more protected inner wall for the night, and so no ally of his ought to have been walking around. Moreover, he could tell that the steps were coming from the empty plain between enemy lines, and they were heading straight for him and Tim.

In another few seconds, the enemies – a teenage girl and her pokémon – came into the very fringe of Mark's vision. In another minute, Mark finally had a good vision of the intruders, and he gasped as he recognized the person approaching, as well as the pokémon she had with her.

It was Hope, with her houndoom leading her through the darkness.

"Tim, be ready to battle at a moment's notice," Mark whispered as a sudden rage began to course through his body. This girl was the reason Eve was gone. This girl was the reason that who-knows-what was happening to Eve, and the reason why Eve was being forced to give the New Republic so great an advantage. "But let me have a word with her first, if she doesn't attack immediately."

In another minute or so, Hope and her houndoom stopped just a few feet from Mark. Though the houndoom was tense, neither trainer nor pokémon appeared ready to enter into a battle. At least, not yet.

"Is that you, Mark?" Hope asked, though her empty voice made the question sound more like a statement than anything. Unlike Mark, she had no good way to see in the dark aside from letting her houndoom or sneasel guide her. Though her luxio knew flash, she couldn't use that technique here for fear of being seen.

Clouds blanketed the night sky above, so thick with a coming snow that their presence could almost be felt by all the creatures still awake at this hour. The only light for Hope to see by was the dim glow coming from the wartime Goldenrod City, and this illuminance reflected off the powdered ground in a way that was beautiful in its eeriness.

"Yes, it's me," Mark replied harshly, anger bubbling into his normally controlled demeanor. "You should be counting yourself lucky that I haven't teleported behind you and stabbed you in the back right now. It would be better than how you stabbed Eve in the back, you filthy traitor."

Houndoom growled, but Hope simply stood there, her thin jacket hanging loosely about her shoulders. She didn't have nearly enough on to withstand the cold of a Johto winter night, and yet she seemed untroubled by the wind the cut through to her bones. Perhaps the heat that her houndoom gave off was enough for her to keep from freezing to death.

Hope pulled a pokéball from her belt. Mark tensed, but she simply threw the pokéball to the ground at his feet without touching the release mechanism.

Mark frowned. "What's this?"

"Someone who might be able to help you, depending on what you want," Hope said. "Open it."

Cautiously, as if fearing that the thing on the ground in front of him was actually a cleverly disguised grenade, Mark picked up the pokéball and hit the button on its front. The red flash of light of the pokéball being opened gave his surroundings a bloody hue for a moment, though he of course couldn't appreciate the effect. Then the light was gone, and he focused his attention on the haunter that now floated in front of him.

Mark turned his sightless gaze to Hope, who was herself too blinded by the dark to notice his stare. "What's a haunter got to do with anything?" Mark asked. Then he felt Tim teleport from his shoulders, and in an instant he sensed the ghost sagging under the weight of the abra. But the haunter hardly seemed to mind; she simply raised her disembodied hands, lifted the psychic-type off of her head, then floated her body around the abra happily.

An almost apologetic smile showed itself on Hope's face. "Tim remembers her. It's Blight, Eve's old gastly. She found me. I assume she was looking for Eve. She's probably better off in your care than in mine." Hope turned around and started to leave.

Tim must have sensed Mark's thoughts, for he quickly teleported himself onto his trainer's shoulders and then transported the both of them in front of Hope.

"Who says you can just leave?" Mark asked, ignoring the growl that was rising in her houndoom's throat. "You're absent without leave from the Johto army, and you handed Eve over to Team Rocket. Do you think I'll just let you get away with that?" His fists tightened. "I'll catch you and force you to tell me where Eve is, even if it kills you."

Hope gracefully jumped up on her houndoom's back, but for the moment didn't give the command to leave. "Suit yourself. But Team Rocket doesn't know I'm gone. If I never show up again, they'll probably assume that I was taken, making them even more paranoid about Eve's hiding place and protection. Capturing me would hurt your cause rather than help it. But as I said, Blight might just help. And if you see Eve, tell her, well…" Mark saw hesitation flicker through her demeanor, and in her expression he saw something that was as close to true emotion as he'd ever seen in this empty girl. Finally, she finished the sentence: "Tell her I'm sorry."

And with a slight tap of her feet against her houndoom's sides, the dark-type leapt across the trampled, snow-covered battleground and out of Mark's vision. He did nothing to stop her. If she was being truthful, then what she said made sense. And the last thing that Mark wanted to do was make it even harder to find Eve.

Mark quickly turned his attention back to the now anxious-looking haunter. "Blight… You wouldn't happen to know where your trainer is, would you?"

Blight didn't reply in any obvious way. Instead, she turned to Tim, and Mark sensed through his abra that she must have said something. All of a sudden, he found himself back in his room back at the Goldenrod headquarters, with both Tim and Blight with him.

"Tim, what are you doing?" Mark said as he looked around him, wondering if maybe Tim was trying to give him some hint as to what the haunter had said. All he saw was his bed and the few other furnishings that had been in the room when it had first been taken for military use. "I know we were pretty much done with our assessment of the fortifications, but we still need to get it to Lance and-"

Psychic energy suddenly pulled the piece of paper with the details of the defenses' weaknesses; the sheet flew through the air and placed itself in Tim's hand. He disappeared for a few seconds, then appeared sitting on the floor at Mark's feet, minus the page of information.

"Did you give it to Lance, then, or one of his aides?" Mark asked.

Though Mark couldn't speak, he somehow imagined that he heard a "yes" coming from Tim's mind, as if what was going on now was so urgent that he had to make himself heard for once in his life.

"So what is this all about? Can Blight maybe find Eve for us and- Hey!" he was lifted off his feet by his abra's incredible psychic power and practically dropped on his bed. He tried to get up, but the psychic energy held him down. Blight floated over so that she was looking down at Mark's face, and then she began waving her hands in such a way that all of Mark's attention was drawn inexplicably to the motion. The movement made all his drowsiness flood into him, and in seconds, the hypnosis attack had forced him into a deep sleep.

Mark suddenly found himself standing back out in that empty no-man's land between Goldenrod's defenses and the enemy lines. He wondered if maybe Tim had teleported him there, and was about to ask when he realized that Tim was nowhere to be seen. Mark tried to expand his awareness to see if Tim was maybe hiding nearby, but then nearly panicked when he found that the only details he observed of his surroundings came from his actual sight, not his mind's eye.

This realization made him feel truly blind for the first time in years. It was dark out, and he could barely see anything. The snow beneath his feet seemed to glow an eerie, blood-red color. He bent down to examine the snow and, to his horror, he saw that the entire blanket of whiteness was tinted with an infinite number of small drops of blood.

Terrified, he turned to head back to Goldenrod. But without his more comprehensive sight, he tripped over something and fell over into a deep bank of blood-drenched snow. The metallic smell of death and the cloying scent of decay filled his nose and mouth, and he struggled for nearly a minute to get out of the engulfing cold. As soon as he was upright, he tripped once again, this time into a shallower drift.

Now in a state of complete panic, he rushed to push himself off the ground as if it could swallow him whole in another moment. He looked back down at the ground to see what had been tripping him. Then, Mark backed away in horror as he saw the burnt and bloodied body of Basil lying in the pink-tinged snow.

His fear only grew as he realized that the light of his surroundings wasn't steady; the glow from the city was flickering, just like the light of a candle. He finally turned his attention to Goldenrod and saw every single building burning up in hungry flames, as if this destructive blaze was battling against Winter itself for dominance.

In the flames of a nearby building, a silhouette caught Mark's eye. It was a four-legged creature of shadow, emerging from the reds and yellows that were so new to his regained sight. It approached, and as it drew nearer, Mark found himself glued to the spot, unable to make a move. The beast was some ten feet high, and as it approached, Mark recognized it as a giant, monstrous version of Hope's houndoom.

When the hellhound was only a foot or two away, it suddenly howled. The blood-chilling sound somehow broke the spell on Mark's mind, and in his all-consuming panic he turned and fled, stumbling through the snow towards the enemy lines. He heard the growling of the houndoom behind him, and felt the sting of its maw of flames as the heat seared off any sweat that ran down his neck. When he found himself stumbling over not just snowdrifts, but the thousands upon thousands of enemy bodies as well, his terror was only magnified, and he ran all the harder.

But try as he might, he could not shake the massive houndoom. It was always right behind him, ready to gulp him down in a single flaming bite. He imagined that he could already feel the burning flames tearing through his skin and muscles and bones.

Eventually he reached Ecruteak, and he hoped that maybe he could lose the monster by fleeing through the more narrow streets. But most of the time when he tried turning, he saw a pack of houndour waiting at the end of the alley for him, and he was forced to continue down his original path, now without whatever distance he had put between himself and the houndoom.

Whenever he reached an intersection, three ways were always cut off by these packs of ravenous houndour, leaving him only one way to go. He was familiar with the city, and so his unthinking mind was somehow able to keep track of where he was. The houndour and the houndoom were forcing him deeper and deeper into the heart of the city, where all the buildings were of either economic or governmental importance.

Mark's legs were burning with exhaustion when he finally collapsed in front of a tall building that he'd never happened to visit before. He waited for the crushing bite of the giant houndoom, or for the many greedy grabs of the houndour for his vulnerable flesh.

But they didn't come.

He looked up. In front of him, almost concealed by shadows, was Hope.

"He might be able to help," Hope said listlessly, her eyes trained up at the building. Despite the darkness, Mark somehow followed her gaze and saw a frantic-looking haunter floating high up near the side of the building, looking in at every window she came to. "Then again, maybe not."

Suddenly, flames shot out from the mouths of the houndoom and all the houndour behind Mark, creating a massive fire that illuminated the terrified haunter for one second before completely incinerating both her and the side of the building. The now unstable top half of the building seemed to teeter for a moment before starting its descent towards where Mark and Hope were in the street.

Mark was once again glued to the spot, unable to think of anything he could do. This was just like what had happened to Goldenrod Tower – the almost beautiful dreadfulness of the sight was exactly the same, at least. Except this time, Mark didn't have Tim to help him escape the impending collapse.

Just before the building crushed him, he saw an unconscious human lying against one of the windows, her body covered in bruises and cuts and blood. And as he watched her, the girl there opened her eyes, saw what was happening, and allowed an expression to come to her face that was so full of terror that it only multiplied Mark's own fear. This girl was the person Mark was so bent on finding. And yet now that he had found her, he could do nothing to save her, to comfort her, to wipe away the look of fright that pervaded her entire body.

This sight of Eve's terror was the last thing Mark was aware of before the flaming building fell to the street, consuming him instantly.

Mark awoke violently, screaming as he tried to cover his head with his arms and protect himself from the massive structure. He was calmed only when something slimy drug itself up his face, its moist stickiness both disgusting and cool enough to bring him back to his senses. He instinctually wiped the residue from his face and looked around with his mental vision. He was back in his room. Tim was sitting on the bed in front of him, and Blight (her tongue still lolling slightly after the lick attack) was floating just in front of him. Both seemed anxious, but expectant.

"That was… that was a nightmare attack, wasn't it?" Mark said breathlessly as he looked at the haunter. "But why would you do that? And why make yourself die in it?" The pokémon didn't answer, and he tried to force his mind out of the panic of the nightmare and back to logical thinking. "Of course, no one's quite sure how a nightmare attack works, and how much control a ghost has over what happens in the nightmare… So it must have been my own nightmare. But why give me a nightmare in the first place? I get precious little sleep as it is, Blight. Were you just playing a prank? Or were you warning me about Hope?"

The paper and pen on the bedside table next to him all of a sudden began to float over to Mark of their own accord. Mark took the two objects and looked at Tim questioningly. "Tim, you know I can't write words well, nonetheless read what I've written. I need real sight to do that. But… maybe if I recount the dream to myself, I'll remember something important. Something that Blight is trying to tell me. Is that it?"

And like a sound in the distance that Mark couldn't quite hear, he imagined that he heard a loud 'yes' resonate through his mind once again.

So he began to retell the dream aloud, putting into words every frightening detail and gruesome image. It wasn't until he got towards the end of the dream that he thought he finally understood what the point of the nightmare was.

"I went down some streets I didn't know, and then eventually we got on Main Street. I stayed on there for a long time, then went through the business district until I was cornered at… at…" He just knew that he knew what the building had been, but he couldn't think of it off the top of his head. Then he remembered, and the entire dream seemed to fall into place. "Oh, I know it! That's Rocket Corporation's Ecruteak headquarters! And Eve was in there at the end of the dream, when the whole place fell to the ground! Blight, are you trying to say that Eve's there?"

And this time, the confirmation was so firm that Mark knew he hadn't imagined it. The word – or, more accurately, the idea of the word – "YES" rang through his head as clearly as any of his own thoughts, if not more so.

Mark put his head in his hands. "Oh, great Lugia, we've found her! Or you've found her, Blight, or Hope found her… I don't even know what to think of Hope anymore. Is it a trap, maybe? A trick? I know you wouldn't try to trick me, Blight, but maybe Hope is using you to trap me and anyone else who would help me rescue her. We never really thought that Eve would be in Ecruteak…" Mark said as he began to ramble. "It would be convenient for Team Rocket if she was there due to the closeness of the war, of course. They could get troops' pokémon to her so easily. But that's also much too close to the front lines for Team Rocket to be so sure of her security. It doesn't make sense. It can't make sense. Everything I know about Hope tells me that she wouldn't do something selfless, like risk punishment by letting me know where Eve is. Even if she didn't tell me where she was directly."

He pulled at his hair and growled at himself in frustration. "But if Hope is trying to help, and Eve really is there, then I can't just leave her! What should we do? Should I teleport there and try to stop her now, Tim?"

Blight floated right in front of Mark's face once again and, before he could think to do anything else, he found his attention once again drawn to the strange motion of the ghost's floating hands.

As his mind drifted off, he found himself muttering, "I guess sleep's the best idea for now… And in the morning, I'll see what Lance thinks…"

Then he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

^_^ Don't have much to say for now... So, as always, thanks for reading!


	41. Rescue

**Chapter Forty-One: Rescue**

"I easily got into Ecruteak without any problems," Mark said to the assembled leaders of the Old Johto, his entire demeanor more energized than it had been in weeks. "Thanks to all the scarves and such, no one recognized me. I made it to the building that Eve's haunter showed me. Though it was hard for me to decipher Eve's exact location without having Tim out of his pokéball to help me, I definitely sensed her somewhere in the upper floors of the building."

Lance scowled at Mark, his eyes growing dark with disbelief. "And there was nothing inside or outside of the building that made you suspicious? Nothing to make you believe that it's a trap?"

Mark seemed to think the question over before responding, "No, not particularly. The security was high, of course, and I noticed at least a couple of psychic-types at the ready. But it was all fairly standard; as far as my vision could reach, there were no massive hordes of ready-to-battle trainers such as there were at the trap in Olivine. Moreover, it was the middle of the afternoon when I was observing the building. If there was any time that there would be a lot of trainers up and about, it would be then."

Lance considered this information for a few moments; but before he could respond to it, Cynthia suddenly stood up from her spot at the conference table. "Lance, I don't care how valuable Eve is to this cause. We can't risk a rescue attempt. There's no possible way that the very person who betrayed Eve would suddenly risk her life to alert us to Eve's location. It has to be a trap; surely you understand that."

"But what if that Hope girl was forced into betraying Eve to begin with?" Jenna said offhandedly, kicking her feet onto the table as she spoke. "Maybe this is just her way of trying to make amends for something she couldn't help. Can't say I actually think that's the case, but you never know."

"She was safe so long as she was under our command, though," Evan said to his wife. As always, he was present at the meeting both by virtue of his marriage and because of his common sense. "She could have sought asylum and asked for protection from Team Rocket if she so badly wanted to keep Eve from getting hurt. The only other possibility for an unwilling betrayal of Eve is that Team Rocket was threatening someone Hope cared about in order to get her to cooperate, but judging by what I know of her, I somehow doubt that was the case. I mean, does anyone deny that all we know of Hope makes her out to be a thoroughly uncaring person?" Everyone was silent. "In that case, why would she help Eve now? The only answer is that this is a trap of some sort. What do you think, Lance?"

Lance shook his head, his eyes closed as if he were struggling with some great mental puzzle. It was at stressful times such as this that the Champion appeared the most aged, and the stark fluorescent lighting of the room only emphasized the white that had begun to creep into his blazing red hair since the beginning of the war. With eyes still shut, he answered, "I agree that this must be a trap. Either that, or Hope has suddenly had an overwhelming change in personality, which I highly doubt.

"On that same note, however, it must also be taken into consideration how valuable Eve is to our cause, and how detrimental it would be to the New Republic if we somehow managed to take it back. So long as winter remains heavy on the land and any of their armies sent to Goldenrod or Violet must first deal with the snow and cold, we survive. But based on the strength of the assault that started yesterday and is going on today, we will not be able to withstand their strength when spring arrives. That is, unless we create a force of evolved pokémon equal to what they currently have."

Lance finally opened his eyes, looked at the assembled trainers, and said, "I have no choice but to order an attempt at the recapture of Eve. Nothing short of a miracle will help us win this war now. Eve's evolutionary talent is exactly the miracle we need."

Cynthia, Bugsy, and Evan all rose in protest; but Lance simply glared at the three of them and, before any of them could speak, he added, "And I won't take any objections on this issue. My decision is final." The three hesitated, then sat down; no matter how justified they felt their position was, there was simply no opposing the will of a dragon tamer such as Lance.

Seeing that they had settled, Lance's glare melted away, and his face once again became the thoughtful but careworn visage of an older man. "Now Mark, you know the situation in Ecruteak. How do you suggest we go about this rescue?"

Mark had been prepared for this; even if Lance hadn't agreed to a rescue attempt, he had been planning to go himself. "As shown by the incident in Olivine, I can't simply teleport in and then teleport out with Eve. But I can't just teleport in all of our strongest fighters for a brief attack, either. They will probably have their own teleporters in place to get Eve out of there in the event of an emergency, after all; and aside from me, it's not easy for Tim to transport many other people or pokémon.

"However, I don't think that Team Rocket's psychic-types will be able to stop Tim and I from entering the building. They probably need a solid grasp of our location to interfere with Tim's abilities. So long as Tim and I find Eve before entering the building – which is probably the only area that the psychic pokémon's awareness covers – then we can at least teleport to her and prevent her from being taken away immediately."

Evan leaned forward in his seat. "So you'll have found Eve and teleported to her. What then? Exactly how are you planning to get out if the psychic-types can stop your teleportation?"

"Simple," Mark said, somehow sounding both serious and happily victorious. "Your wife will be with me. Jenna can blast a way out, and her charizard can fly us away until I'm out of range of any psychic interference."

The cold and almost insane noise of Jenna's laugh cut through the room as she brought her feet off the table and sat in a more alert position. "Mark, I'm liking you more and more the more I get to know you. You're nuts. Anyway, I'm in; let's get going."

"Jenna, don't be an idiot," Cynthia said harshly; over the course of the war, Jenna's attitude had slowly but surely been wearing down the Sinnoh Champion's nerves. "What about the traps that are almost surely there?"

"Even that shouldn't be a problem if we go about things correctly," Mark said. "In the small rooms and corridors, Jenna will be able to take out any trainers one by one, which will be an easy enough task for her. I'll see any physical traps before we run into them, no matter how hidden they are; and if they have something like a sleep powder trap, it's easy enough to keep the powder out by breathing through a cloth or something. The worst they could do is maybe have some poisonous gas to kill or temporarily disable us. But that's hard to manage well in a building filled with many of their own men, who could possibly be affected by it as well."

Bugsy stood up. "I have bugs that could set better traps than the ones you're describing. Though you try to pass if off, even a simple sleeping gas would be enough to knock you out quickly and easily. If Team Rocket's psychic types sense you immediately and alert them to your presence, then a simple press of a button could have you out cold. If Lance insists that you're going, then at least come up with the necessary strategy."

"Sheesh. You guys are making way too big of a deal about this," Jenna said as she picked at something beneath one of her nails. "You can invent whatever kind of traps you want. But the truth is this: hiding Eve was the only way Team Rocket could keep her safe from us. Tim's mobility and Mark's sight combined with my brute strength makes it impossible for them to defend her now. They can throw all their traps at us, if they want. My pokémon will just blast through them. How do you think I dealt with Team Galactic? They tried whatever they could, too. It didn't help them one bit."

Bugsy was going to retort back with some other point, but Lance interrupted him. "Bugsy, she's right. At least, to some extent. They'll need to be careful, but there really is only so much you can do when pokémon as strong as Jenna's are trying to accomplish something."

"Look at the war itself," Mark added. "They've tried firing lethal toxins at the most dangerous trainers and pokémon, just as we've tried to do to them. It works only on occasion. High level pokémon are trained to sense and react to danger through their many battles, and their instinct is incredible when it comes to detecting even the most concealed threat. Being a psychic pokémon, Tim excels at this detection. I'm certain that Jenna's golduck is similarly capable, if something happens to Tim. We should be fine."

The bug gym leader was not quite convinced. "Even so…"

"There is no more room for argument here," Lance said. "Jenna and Mark, your assignment is simple enough: do whatever you can to bring Eve back to us. Start the mission at one in the morning, when they hopefully won't be as prepared to deal with intruders. But I do have one major precaution that you must take. Mark: if you cannot get near enough to Eve to ensure that you won't be teleporting into some sort of trap, then I forbid you from attempting a rescue. Do you understand?"

"Of course," Mark answered promptly.

Lance arched an eyebrow, and his expression morphed to that of a parent who knows that his child is lying about something. "Do you _really_ understand, Mark? Based on your under exaggeration of the obvious risks of this plan, I no longer trust your judgment concerning Eve's rescue. If I had any other option, I wouldn't be sending you on this mission. But regardless of how much you want to rescue Eve, you _must_ realize that if you are captured as well, then there will never be another opportunity to help her. Your abra is the only pokémon we have capable of the teleporting needed. So I ask you again: do you understand?"

A new seriousness entered Mark's clouded eyes, and his excitement faded away momentarily. "Yes, I understand."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Are you ready to head in, Jenna?" Mark asked. He was almost completely oblivious to the cold night air that was practically freezing him to the roof he was standing on, the top of a skyscraper adjacent to the Team Rocket building. He was almost totally intent on one thing: Eve. From this height, he could just barely see her; and though his sight from this distance wasn't quite perfect, it was clear enough for him to know that no obvious traps were waiting for them. This whole endeavor still wasn't without risks, he knew; but this was as good a chance as any to get Eve out of Team Rocket's grasp.

"Of course I'm ready!" Jenna said, though she for once had enough sense to keep her voice down. "Let's go!"

Tim needed no further urging. Jenna and Mark soon found themselves in a very small, very bright room. In front of them was a bed, and lying on the bed was the sleeping figure of Eve.

Mark had expected to feel joy at being reunited with Eve. But now that he was in close proximity to her, all he could feel was horror at what had happened to the young, vibrant girl he had fallen in love with.

The first things that Mark noticed were the bruises that covered her body; though he was blind to the color, their existence was nonetheless obvious. She had been beaten badly, and judging by the size of the bruises a pokémon had done it; and though he couldn't say for sure, it seemed as if these injuries were fairly new. He sensed the oldest to be maybe a day or two old at most.

Then Mark noticed how sunken her eyes seemed to be, and how much skinnier the already small girl was than when he had last seen her. She wasn't completely emaciated, so at least Mark knew that she hadn't been starved the entire time she'd been captive; yet for it to be affecting her weight and appearance noticeably meant that she must not have received much food in the last couple of weeks.

It took Mark only a moment to take all this in, but it was Jenna who was the first to react to it. She whistled as if impressed, and said, "Well, looks like she's had it rough. Now if you're done staring, why don't we get out of here?"

Mark snapped out of his shocked daze and turned his attention to Tim. He didn't even need to ask to see if Tim could teleport away; if it had been possible, Tim would have done it already.

As if to confirm that Team Rocket was already doing all they could to prevent any escape, a pokémon suddenly appeared inside the room, right next to Eve. Before Mark could even see what it was, Tim had used his psychic attack to lift the pokémon up and throw it forcefully against one of the concrete walls; it hit so hard that the wall cracked slightly and the pokémon – a kirlia – died on impact.

The motion of the pokémon on her bed had been enough to wake Eve, and as she sat up she found herself unable to think in the face of the situation she was in. It was all too much for her battered mind to take in.

_Mark and Jenna? Here? Am I dreaming? Or is it some trick?_

Rather than rush over to her rescuers as one might have expected, she instead sat completely still on her bed, as if her two rescuers might pass her by if they didn't notice her now.

But of course, they did see her. Jenna quickly grabbed her by the arm, yanked her out of bed, then pushed both her and Mark into the small bathroom. "Now that Sleeping Beauty here is awake, I think it's about time to bust out of here." Then, cramming herself into the doorway of the bathroom, she pulled out a pokéball and released the nidoqueen inside. The blue reptilian creature filled the entirety of the room, making it apparent why Jenna had so suddenly forced the three of them together.

"All right, Stella – skip the metal door and get through that wall! Superpower!"

The nidoqueen roared – which sounded like some mix between a growl and a trumpeting noise – and launched herself horn first at the concrete next to the door while a slight glowing seemed to envelope her body. Though there was probably a good half a foot between this room and the hallway outside, the nidoqueen easily broke through the solid concrete with that one attack.

Almost immediately, the nidoqueen roared again as all sort of attacks began hitting her from both directions in the hallway. Mark had sensed the trainers coming, of course, but he had been so caught up in events that he hadn't quite managed to mention it.

Now, he moved his focus from Eve herself to the idea of getting everyone to safety. "There's a couple dozen trainers out there already, and more are coming. We could break through another wall and-"

"Ha! A couple dozen?" Jenna said as she pulled out another pokéball. "So long as they can't all attack at once, we'll be perfectly fine. Stella, start mowing down one side! Amber, you've got the other." The ninetails in question emerged from her pokéball as Jenna spoke, and she unhesitatingly sent out a fire blast towards the people and pokémon in one side of the hallway. The first few people collapsed to the floor, fatally burned. Those who got hit with the remnants of the flames quickly withdrew to let their uninjured comrades deal with the elegant fire demon that stood before them, staring them down with a pitiless gaze.

Still not quite comprehending what was going on, Eve clung to Mark's arm as they followed Stella through the hallway. She was still half asleep even considering the circumstances, and her weariness caused her to stumble over rather than step around every body that was left if Stella's wake as the nidoqueen pushed through.

They'd gone a ways down the hallway when complete and unreasoning fear entered Eve's mind, causing her to stop where she was. She still had her grip on Mark's arm, and so he knew immediately that something was wrong.

He turned to Eve, and Eve opened her mouth as if to speak; yet despite her best efforts, no sound would come out. This somehow didn't worry her, as if she'd grown so used to the silence that nothing else was to be expected. She quickly changed her communication strategy and began gesturing to her hip, and then to the pokéballs on Mark's belt.

Mark's eyes showed concern that she wasn't speaking, but for now he didn't bring up the subject. They didn't have time. "Do you know where your pokémon are?" He asked her, understanding what she was trying to convey.

She shook her head frantically, as if trying to make him see how important this was.

"We don't have time to find them. They could be anywhere in this building. We have to go." He began to walk after Stella and Jenna once again, hoping that Eve would follow. Instead, she took her hands from his arm as if the contact had shocked her.

_I can't just leave them, _she thought, rooted to the spot as she stared at Mark with horror. _Team Rocket – will hurt them. They said they would if I wasn't evolving pokémon. Maybe they'll kill off someone else in order to get me to come back. I can't, I can't, I can't let that happen. No._

She suddenly turned and dashed back down the hallway, towards where Amber was still fighting off all the pokémon and trainers trying to follow them. Her panicked mind quickly analyzed the situation: she had friends behind her, lining the floor on either side of her, and enemies in front of her. Of these, the lattermost seemed the most appealing. Even the prospect of safety for herself wasn't enough to keep Eve from doing all she could to save her pokémon. If that meant throwing herself back into the arms of her captors, then she could do nothing to keep herself from their grasp.

Her escape back to her room wasn't successful, however. She was tired and beaten and weakened beyond imagining; it was only natural for her to trip on some corpse's arm after a couple of steps. Eve started to push herself back up, desperate to get away from the people trying to help her, her mind suddenly convinced that they were her true tormentors. But she felt herself floating in the air before she could get herself all the way off the ground, and then she was helpless to stop herself as Tim's psychic attack pulled her along after Mark.

"I'm sorry, Eve, but we just can't get your pokémon right now," Mark said without turning around. "We have to get you to safety. We'll never have another chance like this."

_NO NO NO NO NO!_

She struggled in vain to grab onto the doorways they passed in that hallway; but every time she stretched out her hands, the psychic power prevented her from reaching it. Her fists clenched and her eyes scrunched up and she tried to scream. But she was silent.

_Eve! _Tim's telepathy suddenly rang through her mind, his voice chiding. _I know you've been through a lot, but you must calm yourself! Your pokémon wouldn't want you to suffer for their sakes! Think how sad that would make them!_

_It doesn't matter! _Eve thought to herself, unable to reply aloud to Tim's chastisement. _I have to help them! I can't let them die! Not like Basil died! _But she couldn't do anything. Tim's mental grip on her body was too strong.

Mark had sensed Eve's writhing behind him, but he had nonetheless continued to move forward until he was once again following just behind Jenna and her lethal bulldozer of a pokémon. And soon enough, they finally reached the edge of the building. Jenna called down to Amber to have her fall back, so that she and Stella were fighting as close to side-by-side as they could manage while Jenna fished out another pokéball as she faced the windowed dead-end.

"There are swarms of bird pokémon and trainers out there," Mark said, mentally looking out into the semi-dark of the city. "And this time, we don't have a hallway to keep them coming in twos and threes. Can your charizard take off if all the birds swoop down on her at once?"

In reply, Jenna pressed the release mechanism and the charizard suddenly filled what little space there was left in the hallway, craning her neck way down just to fit beneath the ceiling. Whether Flame could or couldn't do it, Jenna appeared committed to trying.

Jenna climbed onto Flame's back. Tim placed Eve just behind her, making sure to keep her arms and legs pinned to prevent her from squirming away. Mark got on just behind Eve, wishing that Eve had just stayed asleep until this all was over; it might have saved her the stress that he could tell was mounting in her already taxed mind.

Then Jenna leaned back and handed Mark two of her pokéballs, and said, "On the count of three, you'll need to return Stella and Amber to their pokéballs. And you, Flame, will need to blast burn a hole through that window and the wall around it. And fly out before the flames are gone. Burns we can handle; the trainers behind us will be a bit more of a problem. Got it?" Without pausing to see if everyone was ready, she went right ahead and said, "One… Two… Three!"

Everything turned to chaos. An almost concussive pulse went through the air as a huge fireball made the wall and window literally explode in front of them, and this was followed in rapid succession by a sudden shift in momentum as Flame leapt from the edge and went immediately into a dive. Mark was still half turned around from returning the nidoqueen and ninetails to their pokéballs, and he would have fallen off had it not been for Tim's psychic attack.

Unfortunately, Tim's shift in target meant that Eve was no longer bound by him. Without thinking, Eve kicked herself away from the charizard's back. And almost at the same time, nearly two dozen gust attack began blowing, throwing her even farther away from the group.

"Jenna, Eve was blown off!" Mark shouted, his eyes helplessly following Eve's fall some twenty feet away fro him.

And Jenna, in turn, shouted to her charizard, "Flame, man overboard! Angle over toward her, then get us away from here!"

"Tim, you help out with your psychic! I can hang on myself!" Mark said as he clipped Jenna's pokéballs to his belt and clung to Flame's hide.

Eve was panicking now. As much as she wanted to get back to her pokémon, falling to her death hadn't been a part of her plan. She hadn't fallen far, however, when she felt the now comforting grip of Tim's psychic and found herself back on Flame's back. But the stress of the fall – however brief it may have been – ended up being one thing too much for Eve. Almost as soon as she was on the dragon's back once again, she passed out.

Meanwhile, Flame had opened her wings fully to slow their descent. And though this action kept the group from crashing to the pavement below them, it created new problems. The birds that had been circling above them now caught up to them, and the burdened charizard was unable to do much to defend herself as they began to peck and claw and flap at her wings and her passengers.

"Use roar, and get us away from this building!" Jenna shouted as she forcefully smacked away a trainer's pidgey,

A mighty, rumbling roar filled the air, and the birds momentarily backed off in fear. And that moment was all that Flame needed. She finally got a chance to really flap her wings and find her center of balance, which allowed her to begin flying down the street. She still had much of her momentum from the dive, and she used this to pull ahead of the faster, more mobile birds.

Then, before even Mark was quite ready for it, they found themselves flying above the complete dark of the wilds of Indigo Plateau. The only lights to be found were the stars above and the glimmer of the Pokémon League below. Though Flame had taken a good bit of damage in the short time she'd been at the mercy of the birds, she managed to enter into a gradual descent before coming to a rough landing just in front of the entrance to the Pokémon League.

Lance was there, waiting for them despite the early hour of the morning. As soon as they alighted, he looked over the bedraggled group, his eyes lingering for a while on the unconscious form of Eve.

After a long silence, he said, "And thus does hope return to our cause."

Jenna simply laughed at this statement, ruining what should have been a solemn moment. "If she's this cause's hope, then your future isn't much to think about. Your hope is a girl who tried to rush back to Team Rocket when we tried to save her. Mentally, she's shattered. Anyway, I'm heading to bed," she said as she got off Flame, returning the charizard to her pokéball. Mark just barely kept himself and Eve from collapsing face first to the ground as their ride disappeared from beneath them.

Before Jenna left, though, she took one last curious look at Eve, who was still unconscious and was now being held upright by Mark. Then she sauntered towards the entrance to the Pokémon League, saying an old nursery rhyme just loudly enough for Mark and Lance to hear. Her voice had a cheerful, almost sing-song quality to it as she began:

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,  
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.  
All the king's horses and all the king's men,  
Couldn't put Humpty together again."

And when she ended, she stopped just outside of the doors and said aloud, "I can't help but wonder – will this King and his men fix the pieces? Or will they break them even more? After all, an egg is of no use to anyone if its shell is still whole. Maybe this King will use the shattered egg to his advantage, rather than bother putting it together to crack it again himself."

Then she shrugged and finally entered the building, leaving Mark and Lance staring after her, neither of them quite sure what to say.

* * *

So, I didn't start writing this chapter until last night... I've been in a really lazy mood lately, so sorry about that. But so long as the laziness doesn't persist, I should be able to get a lot written this summer, seeing as I don't have a job and won't be doing anything of note except sitting around home.

So yeah... Eve has been rescued, but not her pokémon... :(


	42. The Silent Treatment

**Chapter Forty-Two: The Silent Treatment**

A very wet, very enthusiastic lick on the face woke Eve from the longest rest she'd had in ages. In a panic, she quickly jerked upright in her bed as she prepared herself to be hauled off to evolve more pokémon.

What she wasn't prepared for was another playful (but still slimy) lick attack.

~Eve!~ the haunter in front of Eve exclaimed joyfully. ~It's me, Blight! I've been so worried! Hope was so strange when she showed me where you were… She said you'd be in danger if I went in. She scares me a lot. But you're safe now, so that's all that matters! Are you feeling okay? Those bruises look kind of bad, and I don't know how the cuts are since they're all bandaged up, but I bet they're not pretty, either.~

Eve was so overwhelmed by the presence of Blight that she barely took in a word of what she said. She just looked at the Haunter as she rambled on and, when the ghost finally finished speaking, Eve cautiously took the barely solid ghost in her hands and hugged her to her chest. The sensation of hugging what was essentially gas with form was strange; but the sheer relief of seeing even one of her pokémon safe – even one whom she had spent so little time with – made Eve oblivious to the weird feeling.

After a few moments, Eve held the main body of the haunter at arm's length so that she could take in the full appearance of this pokémon that was both so familiar and so unrecognizable. Before she could look for long, however, the strangely insubstantial body seemed to change fully into gas without actually changing its solid-looking façade. Eve found her hands slipping through the gasses of Blight's body, and before she was quite sure what had happened, Blight was out of her grasp and starting to ramble again.

~I really am just really glad to see you! You see, I went out and trained and kept trying to keep my gasses under control, and eventually… I dunno, I guess I just evolved. You know, it's really weird having hands! I never guessed what they'd be like.~ As she said this, she moved her floating hands around in the air. Their motion was so independent of both the haunter's body and each other that it was hard to believe that the three parts were all just pieces of the same pokémon. ~I found Hope before I found you, and she guessed that I wanted to find you, and she said she'd help. And she did! But anyway… You know, Tim told me that Aiden and Hannah and Pebble and the pokémon that hatched from your egg are in trouble… And that Basil isn't around anymore…~ The energetic ghost-type sobered up at this thought. ~There's nothing I can do for Basil, of course, but maybe I could go back and look for the others. You know, I can go through walls and stuff, so-~

Blight stopped speaking when Eve began vigorously shaking her head back and forth.

~Why not?~ Blight asked, confused. ~Don't you want them back with us?~

Eve opened her mouth, then closed it again before she'd even tried to say a word. She knew that no sound would come. The very idea of speaking somehow made her afraid. Logically, she knew that there was no danger in saying anything here. Even as disoriented as she was, she knew that she was back in the Pokémon League and that Lance at least wouldn't use the same tactics as Team Rocket, even though he probably desired victory more than any single member of the New Republic ever could.

_But even if it's safe here… I just can't do it. I can't say anything. I tried talking when Mark and Jenna rescued me, and I couldn't. But maybe now…_

She once again opened her mouth, and this time she made an attempt at telling Blight exactly why she couldn't go and save Aiden, Hannah, and Pebble. She took a breath, and managed to form the first word on her lips. But though her mouth knew what to do, her vocal chords were uncooperative. Not even a whisper of a sound came out. The air came out as if she was breathing, quickly and silently.

But like the first time she had tried to speak while being rescued, this somehow didn't surprise or frighten her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that she didn't even _want_ to talk. It suddenly seemed a thing both silly and terrifying to her. For over two months now, the only words she had heard were her own and those of her captors; and in the last two weeks, she'd even come to associate any attempted sound from her own mouth as something with a great possibility for evil.

So instead of telling Blight the problem with her rescue plan, Eve simply looked at her and willed that she would come to the conclusion herself.

And – by some miracle, or just by the chance of the haunter's wandering mind – Blight said, ~You don't want me to get hurt? Well, I understand that, but… I'd still like to help them. Are you sure you won't let me at least try?~

Eve nodded her head emphatically.

The ghost sank down into Eve's lap in resignation. Despite the fact that her body was at least a good three feet tall, Eve felt nearly no weight on her lap as the large, spiked head came to a rest.

Then Eve heard a polite coughing noise from the opposite corner of her rather large room, and while still on her bed she instinctively pushed herself over until she was sitting in her own corner. Blight quickly floated out of her lap, allowing her to see for the first time who had been in the room this whole time. It wasn't until she was safely crammed against the two walls that Eve actually looked up to see who the human in the room was. Standing next to the doorway was Mark, with Tim on his shoulders as always.

But rather then feeling comforted by their presence, Eve felt almost more frightened. Her last memory of them was when they were forcing her to come with them, despite how scared she was for the safety of her pokémon. That fear for her pokémon still remained, and some part of Eve's mind now blamed Mark for their current endangerment. Even during the last couple days of her captivity when she'd endured the most brutal of her treatment – actual beatings from pokémon, the bruises and cuts of which still covered her body – she had at least had some certainty of her pokémon's safety. Now, even that certainty was gone.

As Eve watched him with this unconscious and illogical fear, she saw in his eyes that he was hurt by her reaction to him. Yet he did nothing else to show that hurt as he began to speak to Eve, his voice quiet and placating. "Eve, you're safe now. We got you away from Team Rocket, and Lance is making sure that every precaution is taken so that you can't be taken away again. And Eve, I'm sorry that we couldn't save your pokémon, too. But if they were in their pokéballs, then I would never have been able to find them in such a large building filled with other trainers. We'll do everything we can to recover them, I promise you."

Eve continued to stare at him, but she made no attempt at a reply.

Mark's brow knitted together in consternation. "Eve, why won't you talk? We had some doctors look at you while you were still asleep, and they said that your vocal chords were perfectly fine. So… Are you angry at me for something? Mad that I couldn't save you sooner? I'm mad enough at myself for that."

After a couple moments of silence, Eve shook her head slightly.

"Then what is it? What's wrong?" Mark asked. "I hate seeing you like this. Can you write down what's wrong, maybe? I've got some paper and a pen. Would you-"

But Eve was shaking her head again, and so he was forced to stop that attempt to find the truth of the matter.

_I don't want him to know why I'm not talking. I don't want anyone to know, except maybe my pokémon, who will probably guess it. Pebble will, at least. But I can't just tell Mark that I'm scared to talk, or that I just don't want to… He wouldn't understand. It doesn't make sense even to me. I just won't. _

"Why can't you tell me?" Mark asked, obviously frustrated. "Eve, I… I practically couldn't live with myself after you were taken. Even though you were hurt when we found you, I was so glad that it wasn't anything too major. Starvation, some bruises, some cuts… You'll recover from all that. But Eve, it kills me to see you like this. You're safe now. I don't know what you're so afraid of that you won't even talk, but Team Rocket can't do anything to you now. Please, just… Just trust me, won't you? I still love you, just as much as when I told you so in Goldenrod all those months ago." He walked closer to her bed, and held out his hand to her to help her up.

Tentatively, Eve reached out her hand to grab his. And it wasn't without great hesitation that she finally placed her small hand into his strong grip. He helped her to her feet, and then - before she could do anything to prevent it - he brought her into his arms and hugged her.

She went still, but not with relaxed calm of someone protected or comforted. Rather, her stillness was muck more akin to the stiff tenseness of a rattata who can smell an arbok nearby but who cannot yet see it. Part of her really and truly wanted to put all her trust in Mark. Even considering that he had forced her away from her pokémon, she knew that he had done it for her own good, and that he meant it when he said that he would do everything possible to get them back. She wanted to return the love that he was now so boldly declaring after some months of not mentioning it for the sake of their friendship.

But the fact of the matter was that Eve hadn't been in contact with any friendly human being for over two months, aside from the very rare, very fleeting visits of Brian. And even those had been far from comforting; despite all his good intentions, he had still been the voice of Team Rocket during her imprisonment. All the other humans she had been around had abused her or hurt her in some way, namely in those last few weeks when she refused to summon Suicune.

Her reasonable fear of her captors had translated into an unreasonable wariness of all people; and this was a wariness that couldn't be cured with just a few kind words, even from someone she originally would have trusted with her life.

Mark sensed her fear and quickly let go, and Eve saw that the look in his milky eyes was more hurt than ever. He backed up a step and said, somewhat coldly, "Lance wanted me to ask you if you'd be willing to see him. Are you up for it?"

Eve nodded slowly, then looked up to Blight, who was still floating off to the side.

~Oh, right!~ Blight said. ~You want me to come with you, right?~

Eve nodded again, this being her best sure method of communication right now.

The haunter hurriedly drifted to Eve's side. ~Okay, got it. But I've gotta admit, it's hard to understand you when you don't talk. I can still sort of get the message and then guess the rest, but… Are you sure you don't want to talk? I guess I don't mind it that much, but Mark seems kinda concerned, don't you think?~

Eve nodded a yes to both questions, then looked back to Mark in hopes that he would understand that she wanted Blight along.

Tim at least got the message, for in another moment, both humans and both pokémon were in the main conference room of the Old Johto resistance. There were only a couple of other people in the room, and out of them, Lance was the only truly important figure; all the strong trainers normally present were noticeably absent.

Lance saw Eve eyeing the empty room, and he said, "Most of our trainers are out fighting in the defense of Violet and Goldenrod right now, both of which have been under attack for the past three days or so. That's why there are so few people here now. But that's not why I asked you to come here."

He thoughtfully ran his hand through his hair once before continuing, as if to push the characteristic red hair out of his face and with it rid his mind of all extraneous thoughts. And as he did this, Eve saw that he had changed somewhat in the months since she'd seen him. His hair, which had previously been a darker color than Eve's own bright locks, now appeared faded due to the numerous white strands that were beginning to poke to the surface. His face, too, seemed aged, and a couple of wrinkles could even be seen in what should have been a younger face.

And when he began speaking, Eve realized that his appearance wasn't the only thing that had changed.

"Eve, I first want to say that I'm sorry. I apologize if I said something in our first meeting that antagonized you. And I apologize that you were somehow captured in an area that was supposed to be secure."

Eve couldn't quite tell if he was genuinely sorry or if this was a ploy to make her more willing to cooperate, but she knew that the proud Lance she had first met wouldn't have admitted a mistake even if it were to his own benefit.

"And secondly, I would like to ask you for your help," Lance continued, obviously not wanting to dwell on the apologies. "I know you've been through a lot due to your abilities. But it's because of your abilities that we're in such a bind right now, and it's your abilities that can get us out of our current situation. To put it bluntly, let me say that our forces will be entirely outclassed by the high number of evolved pokémon under the New Republic's control, if our current fortifications are ever breached to a great extent. We need you to bolster our own forces with evolutions, as well. Are you willing?"

Eve nodded solemnly. She very much wanted to make up for all the harm that she'd done to the Old Johto's cause, and doing for them what she'd already been forced to do for Team Rocket seemed the least she could do. Not to mention, she doubted that Lance would have let her say no.

Then Eve looked up to Blight, and then back to Mark, wanting to ask him what was being done to help her other pokémon. Mark didn't understand, and so she looked down to her hip where her pokéball carrying pouch had always hung.

Mark recognized this signal and turned to Lance. "I think she's wondering what you'll do to get her pokémon back."

"We're already trying negotiations and prisoner trades, though such a thing is uncommon when bargaining for captive pokémon in a war," Lance said. "So far, they've refused all our offers. We will continue the negotiations, and we also have spies who will hopefully be trying to find their way into employment at the place you were being held. We'll steal them away as soon as possible. Until then, you must be patient. Now, are you willing to start evolving pokémon immediately?"

Once again, Eve nodded.

"Good," he replied. "Mark, please take her back to her guards. They have instructions to take her to get something to eat – but only a little, under doctor's orders – and then they can bring her to where she needs to be. Mark, I'd like you to come back here as soon as possible; there's something I'd like to talk to you about. And Eve, if you get tired or would like to go anywhere else, you are at any time welcome to wander anywhere in and around the Pokémon League, assuming that you allow your guards to accompany you."

She wasn't sure if this was for her own good of if Lance was simply over paranoid about losing his new tool of war, but she appreciated the freedom of movement nonetheless. Though admittedly, she didn't intend to take advantage of it much; she wanted to do as much evolving of the Old Johto's pokémon as possible.

In another moment, Eve found herself, Blight, Mark and Tim in a hallway somewhere. There were two other people in the hall was well, and to Eve's surprise, they were two people that she actually knew.

"Eve, these are two of your guards, though of course who all is guarding you will rotate," Mark said. "You know both Rose and Katsu, right?"

She nodded, and a near smile came to her face at the prospect of having guards she was actually familiar with.

They both smiled back at her, though they stayed silent since someone of a higher rank was talking. Mark continued, "By itself, their friendship with you wouldn't have been enough to make them your guards. But they were both deemed to be of high enough battle caliber to be capable. You can ask them about it later, if you…" he trailed off as he realized that she probably wouldn't be asking anyone anything anytime soon.

Katsu noticed that something was wrong, and he interjected to break the awkward silence. "Eve, we've both done quite a bit since you've been gone. We'll tell you later, and if you don't want to hear it, just let us know." He was obviously just trying to be friendly; he probably didn't realize that it wouldn't exactly be easy for her to let him know anything. Nonetheless, Eve found herself smiling slightly. After all she'd been through, she appreciated the prospect of something so trivial as hearing his and Rose's stories, though she still found herself keeping her distance from her two friends.

Mark seemed to have gotten over his stumble, so he continued, "You two have your orders, I suppose. Lance wants to see me again, so I'll be off. And Eve… Just remember that you're safe now. As I said earlier, you don't have to be so scared."

Then Tim teleported, and Mark once again found himself in front of Lance.

"Would she talk to you at all, Mark?" Lance asked as soon as he appeared, as always preferring not to beat around the bush.

Mark shook his head dejectedly. "She won't even write down why she won't talk. She just… won't. I don't know what Team Rocket did to her aside from the obvious physical problems she has, but it must have been bad. It's like…" He trailed off without finishing the sentence.

"Yes?" Lance prompted, leaning forward in his seat. "What do you think it's like? While you don't have the most level head when it comes to Eve, I trust your assessment of her mental state. Regardless of what Jenna seemed to think last night, I don't want to do anything to hurt her more, if I can help it. I need to know what's wrong with her."

Mark shrugged. "It's just that something that Lugia said about Eve might be making me think this way. I don't even fully know what it means," he said, in his mind thinking about all Lugia and Eve had said about Eve being not really human. He had always thought the idea preposterous – of course she was human, anyone could see it – but how traumatized Eve was acting was making him think that perhaps there was some truth behind it.

"Regardless of whether or not something Lugia said is affecting your judgment, I'd like to hear it," Lance said.

"Well… I mean, Eve trusted me before all of this, I'm sure of it. But now, she acts practically frightened of me. She seemed pleasantly surprised by our choice of guards, but she kept a good distance even from them. Yet she welcomed her haunter with open arms, even though she only had that pokémon for a couple of weeks, and that was some time ago. It doesn't seem natural for her to completely trust her old pokémon, yet be downright scared of a person she's trusted for months. Unless…"

Lance scowled slightly. "Mark, just quit trailing off and get to the point. Unless what?"

"Well, it's like I was originally going to say – it's almost like she's an abused pokémon," Mark said. "A pokémon that is abused by humans will stop trusting all humans, even if it once had another, kinder owner. It's as if whatever Team Rocket did to her was bad enough that she decided to stop trusting humans altogether, even the ones who she has every reason to trust."

The scowl on Lance's face deepened considerably. "And so you think that right now, the only things that Eve can trust are pokémon?"

Mark nodded, though putting the conclusion into words seemed to have made him even more depressed than ever. "It would make sense. She once told me that pokémon never intend to harm anyone, or at least not out of maliciousness. If that's the case, then now she might naturally rely more on them than on the race that's hurt her so much."

"In that case, it's more important than ever that we get her pokémon back," Lance said seriously. "If she easily puts so much trust into a haunter she never knew for long and whom she hasn't seen in months, then how much must she be missing her other pokémon? I might not be concerned if not for your account of how she tried to return to the Team Rocket members when you were trying to save her… If they've been threatening her pokémon to get her to cooperate – as I now expect they have been doing – then she might return to their grasp of her own volition if she's given the chance to escape. Please make sure that her guards are aware of this possibility. Did you learn anything else from your time spent talking to her?"

Mark sighed slightly. "Sadly, no."

"Then you are dismissed. Please be prepared to leave for Goldenrod; if the fighting gets exceptionally bad there, then the two of us will have to return to the war."

Mark unconsciously reached up and grabbed on to Tim's foot, as if this added remembrance of Tim's presence comforted him somehow. He didn't want to leave Eve alone for long as she was, but he knew at least that she would be well protected if he had to go back to battle. "Understood," he said. Then he walked out the door, ready to get to somewhere quiet so he could think more about his observations of Eve.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Eve, you haven't been at this since we left, have you?" Katsu asked as he and Rose entered the room for their second shift; the previous shift gladly left the room, more than happy to be done with the boring task of watching Eve.

Eve didn't respond; she was too concentrated on willing the pokémon in front of her to evolve. Since starting to evolve pokémon here, she'd found that the evolution prevention she'd tried while under Team Rocket's control wasn't the only way she could affect how many pokémon evolved. If she consciously wanted a pokémon to evolve, some pokémon otherwise incapable of evolution would nonetheless be able to make the change.

Since Eve wasn't paying any attention to her returning guards, the middle-aged woman who was managing pokéballs answered for her. "Yeah, she's been here pretty much the entire time. Stopped for a snack and a short break a while back, she's been pretty dedicated to strengthening these pokémon."

Rose knelt down next to Eve, and in a voice that was both chiding and cautious said, "Eve, I'm glad you want to help us out, but this is your first day back. You need to take it easy. Sixteen hours straight of work is plenty." Then, standing back up and addressing the woman, Rose said, "She's done for now. We'll take her back to her room. Right, Katsu?"

"Yeah, I agree," Katsu said, his face rather worried. It wasn't until his and Rose's time off duty that they'd heard from Mark about his assessment of what he knew was up with her. Of course, they'd already realized by then that she wasn't speaking; but the fact that she might run away and join back up with Team Rocket had come as a shock to them. More than ever, the two guards were concerned for Eve.

"All right then," the woman said as she returned the most recent pokémon to its pokéball. "She's all yours. And Eve, you get a good rest. In just one day, you've already done wonders for this army; everyone will appreciate it. After everything you've been through and all you're doing to make up for it, there won't be a person here who doesn't at least grudgingly respect you."

Eve didn't respond at all. Even if the woman was right, the thought didn't really cheer her up. She didn't really want any of their respect. She really just wanted to be forgotten, doing what she could for the Old Johto army in secrecy. She didn't want anything to do with a bunch of people she didn't know; she was already jumpy enough around her friends.

Wordlessly, Eve let Katsu and Rose lead her out of the large room she'd been in for most of the day. As the three walked down the mostly empty hallways of the pokémon league together – most people were stationed in Violet or Goldenrod at the moment – Rose turned and said with a smile, "So, did you wanna hear all we did while you were gone?"

Eve smiled slightly back and nodded. The only time Eve had really gotten to know Rose was when they had flown to battle together, and she had seemed so different then. Before, she'd been so nervous that Eve hadn't had a good sense of what she was really like. Now she was cheery and confident, and she seemed intent on spreading those feelings to Eve, who felt quite the opposite. Whether she was genuinely like this or simply acting because she'd been told to make Eve feel comfortable, Eve couldn't say for sure, but she appreciated the cheeriness nonetheless.

Rose launched right into her story. "The story's the same for both of us, really, although Katsu plays a bigger role in it than I do," she said, sounding not at all disappointed by this fact. "You see, we were both stationed in Goldenrod for a long time. He was actually an officer above me – he's been doing pretty well in the battles he's been in, and the officers that were above him noticed. Anyway, so we were charged with being ready at the flanks in case a small force of any kind tried to sneak its way into Goldenrod. No one really thought they would, since a force small enough to sneak in wouldn't be big enough to do much damage.

"But then it was night, and I was one of the ones keeping watch. And I noticed that the pair of sentries on the roof of a building about a half a block down were slumped over, and I thought they'd just fallen asleep. Then I got a bad feeling, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and I just barely managed to push my own lookout partner down to the ground before a couple of murkrow zoomed over our heads. One of them managed to cut my partner with her talons, and she was almost immediately incapacitated – turns out the murkrow had poison on their talons, but the cut was too small to kill my partner, thank goodness."

Katsu suddenly interrupted her rambling. "Long story short, the infiltrators had plenty of poison with them. If Rose hadn't sounded the alarm, they might have poisoned our food supplies and killed off a lot of people before we realized there was a problem. They did the same thing in Violet that night, and breakfast would have started to have been served there before they realized that all their lookouts in one area were gone and something was wrong. But we called over as soon as we had dealt with our intruders, told them our story, and they found the poisoned food before anyone ate it."

Rose – still positively enthusiastic despite the subject matter – said, "But Katsu, you're being too humble. With only what was left of his already small unit, he used his knowledge of the area to corner the poisoners. And Karen herself was leading them! It was her murkrow that had taken out the other sentries. And thanks to Katsu's command, we were able to corner her and capture her and the few others that were with her!"

"And now _you're_ being too humble," Katsu said, himself getting a little caught up in her enthusiasm. "It was only thanks to your umbreon's sight that we were able to find them, and only thanks to your glaceon's blizzard that we could freeze them to the point of near hypothermia."

Rose shrugged, her demeanor jokingly arrogant. "True, I can't deny my pokémon's awesomeness. But if it hadn't been so cold and snowy out already, there's no way it would've worked."

"Regardless, it was still pretty impressive," Katsu said. "Oh, and Eve, did you hear that I got a tropius? I'll have to have you meet him some time. I got him as a gift from a relative who heard about the war and that I was in it. He seems happy enough, but I was wondering if maybe you'd talk to him and make sure… But anyway, that can be done at another time. Here's your room. I'd suggest you get some rest. I'm pretty sure everything you need is in there, but if you do need something else, come out and get us. We'll be right outside the door. Okay?"

Eve nodded, and went inside; Blight, who had been with her this entire time, followed right behind her.

~So Eve… Are you still sure you don't want me to find the other pokémon?~ Blight said as Eve practically collapsed onto the bed. ~You seem so sad without them… And I don't feel right pulling pranks on anyone until they're back.~

Eve simply looked at Blight, and he got the message. It seemed as if Eve's refusal to speak had somehow made her able to communicate to some extent by instinct, as most pokémon do. Throughout the course of the day she'd found that it wasn't perfect by any means, but that she could get a message across to Blight easily enough when it pertained to something that had just been said or when it was a response to one of her questions.

Then Eve tiredly got up again and went over to the light, flipping the switch off so that she could get some decent sleep. But almost as soon as the room was dark, Blight spoke up again.

~Oh, hey, what's this? There's a piece of paper where you were just sitting on your bed. Did you drop it?~

Eve turned the light back on, wondering what Blight was talking about. But sure enough, a small note was lying on the bed.

_I must have been too tired to notice it when I lied down at first, _Eve though sleepily. _I wonder what it is?_

She picked it up and began to read the deceptively neat handwriting:

'Eve, we'll continue to guarantee your pokémon's safety for a time here in the true Johto, the New Republic. Our security cameras show how you tried to resist rescue, and we appreciate that you tried to hold up your end of our deal. However, that guarantee of your pokémon's safety will not last forever. We will contact you again later as soon as we have a way to get you out of the grasp of the corrupt old government. If you don't cooperate – or if our messenger is captured, whether by your betrayal or by his own carelessness – then the guarantee of your pokémon's safety will expire automatically.'

As terrible as the letter was, it was also a relief. All day, Eve had been wondering whether or not her pokémon were safe, and if so how long they would remain that way. The uncertainty was gone now; so long as she cooperated, they would still be fine. She hated the idea of going back to Team Rocket, and yet the knowledge that her pokémon would be all right was all that Eve needed to feel actually content for the first time that day.

Blight noticed the change, and commented, ~Well, it must have been a good letter. What did it say?~

But this was something that Eve's currently limited communication skills couldn't manage; and even if she could've said it, she wouldn't have wanted to. Blight would have tried to stop her or alert her guards, more than likely. She simply shook her head at Blight's question, then looked around the room curiously. There were no cameras, thank goodness; whoever had managed to get into her room (she guessed it was perhaps a janitor or someone, since the bed had been made during her absence) probably wasn't going to be caught just from leaving the note. Eve could only hope that he remained cautious, whoever he was.

Without any further ado, Eve went to the small bathroom that was connected to her little bedroom area and flushed the scrap of paper down the toilet. Then she turned off the lights once again, stumbled into bed, and fell asleep with a feeling that was a strange mix of relieved happiness and utter dread.

* * *

So... Though I promise to give it my best effort, I probably won't get a chapter out next week. This is due to two things. One, I've been video game bingeing, which is something I usually only do when I get a new game. And a new game (FFXII: Revenant Wings) is part of the problem, but I've also been playing through Digimon World Dusk, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (which is probably the best game ever made; I'm probably going to cry at the end, like I have every single other time I've played it), and Zelda: Spirit Tracks. So that has been majorly distracting me.

Secondly, I've got an anime convention (my first ever!) that I'm going to next weekend with some friends, and in the days before I shall be preparing myself for a total submersion into pure, unfiltered geekiness. As much of a geek as I am, I'm not entirely sure if my mind and soul will be able to handle the pure geektastic awesomeness.

So though I'll try, I'm not guaranteeing a chapter next week. Just keep an eye on my profile if you want to know how the chapter's coming along, and if I think I'll be able to get it done.


	43. Return

**Chapter Forty-Three: Return**

~Eve, you've been acting strange the last couple days. Is something wrong?~ Blight asked as Eve returned from her most recent session of evolution.

Eve nodded slightly, and did her best to convey her worry in the instinctual manner of pokémon. It wasn't an easy way to talk for someone so used to human speech, but her silence was forcing her to get better at it, little by little.

Blight got the point. ~So you're still worried about the other pokémon…~

Eve nodded to confirm that Blight had understood correctly. Of course, there was so much more to Eve's worry than what Blight could suspect. Nearly a week had passed since Eve had received that first letter from Team Rocket, and as of yet no other communication had been received. She was worried that perhaps the double agent within the Indigo Plateau had been caught, and that her pokémon were in trouble because of it.

She couldn't get the thought off of her mind; her anxiety was so palpable that it was like a grimer's stench thick in the air around her.

Rose – one of the two guards now escorting Eve down the hallway – noticed Eve's mood, and finally decided to speak up. "Eve, I can only guess what it is that you're worried about. And the fact is, we can't do anything about it. Not right now. Your pokémon will be safe eventually, though. Lance might be kind of icy at first glance, but he does what needs to be done. He promised to get them back, right?"

Eve nodded ever so slightly, as if to show how little stock she held in the promise.

"Then he'll get them back for you, for sure."

Eve smiled to show that she appreciated the pep talk, but in her heart she knew that this couldn't be true. It was too hard a task to find four pokémon out of the thousands that Team Rocket probably possessed. Moreover, there was no way Team Rocket would let go of the leverage they had hanging over her head. Despite Lance's best efforts, Eve knew that being reunited with her pokémon would be impossible unless it was under Team Rocket's control.

This was why she practically lit up with relief when she arrived in her room and saw a small scrap of paper lying on her bed. She double-checked that she'd closed the door all the way behind her before she snatched it up and read:

'Do as your guards suggest. They have your best interests in mind. –R'

Though more cryptic than usual, the message got its point across. _So at least one of my guards will probably be the one to turn me over to Team Rocket… I wonder who? Not Katsu or Rose, for sure. But there are five others that rotate with them as guards, and I don't know any of them well. One or more of them have probably been paid off, or they've been traitors from the beginning. It doesn't matter, really. All that matters is that my pokémon will be safe again. _

~Eve, what does this one say?~ Blight asked curiously, not in the least suspecting the truth of the message.

Shaking her head, Eve disposed of the message and began preparing to go to sleep. It was past one in the morning now, and she was exhausted, as usual. She'd been pushing herself hard during this week at Indigo Plateau; she desperately wanted to do as much good as she could before returning to her pokémon. She'd be up again at about six in the morning, and so she hoped Blight would simply attribute her lack of an answer to exhaustion.

And sure enough, the ghost didn't make a big deal out of it. ~All right, then. If you can't say it, then it's probably beyond what your able to tell me right now. Maybe once you've had more practice you'll be able to tell me. Good night.~

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Only a few hours later – but many miles away – Lance's early morning training was interrupted by a frantic looking messenger.

"Yes? What is it?" Lance asked, hiding his irritation at having his training disrupted. He didn't bother withdrawing the dragonite he'd been training; if there was an emergency, then it would be best to have it out at the ready. He was training at one of the many parks within town, so he was just a short flight away from anywhere he might need to be. "Surely the New Republic isn't planning another attack? They barely withdrew their troops from the latest assault."

"It's not that, sir," the small teenager said, his face contorted slightly as he tried to recover his breath. "That guy who helped to stir up all this trouble – Brian, I think it was – he's been captured. Or, more accurately, he let himself be captured."

Lance scowled thoughtfully at this news, but as eager as he was to hear more, he decided to ask about the details of the situation from those who would know the most about it. "And where is he being held?"

"The small jail on the north side of town, sir. It was the closest place, and the ones who took charge of him thought it best to keep his capture quiet for now."

Lance spared no more time; before the messenger was even finished with this last sentence, Lance had vaulted onto his dragonite's back. And as soon as the last sentence was finished, the dragonite took off.

It took Lance only a couple minutes to arrive at the jail, and only a minute or two more to be guided to the place where Brian was being held. It was a small interrogation room, complete with table, two chairs, and a one-way mirror into another room. It was in this other room that Lance stayed for the time being, his harsh glare scrutinizing the cuffed man sitting alone at the table.

It wasn't long before Lance was joined by the officer in charge of Brian's capture. "He may look beat up now, but it wasn't with us that he put up a fight," the officer said. "He flew in on an aerodactyl, but quickly landed and handed himself over. He was being chased by a few of the fastest of the New Republic's aerial division, but they left when our own forces prepared to attack them. He's been trying to explain everything to me as we brought him in, but I'm not sure what to believe. He said-"

"I'll have him tell me himself," Lance said, brushing off the officer and walking purposefully into the interrogation room. He didn't sit; instead, he stood on the opposite side of the table from Brian, crossed his arms, and glared at him.

Brian somehow ignored the unnerving effects of the piercing gaze, and instead launched right into the story that Lance had been planning on asking him about.

"Lance, sir, we don't have a lot of time. I just barely escaped from Team Rocket, and I assume that they'll speed up their plans now that I've come here. They're going to try to take Eve again. They have a Rocket member working at Indigo Plateau, and they've left notes for Eve telling her to cooperate and threatening her pokémon if she doesn't. You have to hurry and get someone back to her, and let her know that I brought her pokémon back."

Lance looked meaningfully towards his reflection in the glass, knowing that the officer was probably waiting just outside the room for orders. They could hear everything that was said in here, and so without leaving the room, Lance said, "Someone find Mark Abra. Tell him that there is a possibility that Eve is in danger, and that he needs to go ensure her safety for the time being. As for you," Lance turned his gaze back to Brian's worried face, "I want to know exactly what would motivate you to do this. I have acted on your warning; now prove to me that this isn't some trick."

"I can't prove it with anything, other than by what I've already done," Brian said desperately, obviously eager to win Lance's trust. "I regret what I've done for Team Rocket. I believed it was for the best at the time, and I didn't realize that the political change that the Rocket's promised to attempt would be something like this. And after seeing what they did to Eve, I couldn't let her be captured by them again."

"I don't believe you so far," Lance said, his judging eyes unwaveringly locked with Brian's own desperate gaze. "Go on anyway."

Despite this setback, Brian didn't drop his eyes. He flinched momentarily as if stung by Lance's disbelief, but then continued in an undaunted voice, "As soon as the revolution started, Team Rocket knew that I could not follow them willingly. They kept me under close supervision, at first in my same position without my same power. When they captured Eve, I was made their spokesperson to her due to my having met her on multiple occasions. I admit that I encouraged her to go along with Team Rocket's plans, but this was only because I knew what would happen if – or rather, when – she didn't.

"For about two months things stayed like this, with her evolving pokémon and me very rarely seeing her, except when those in charge of her management wished for something to be said to her. Her cooperation ensured her pokémon's safety. But then, I was forced to threaten her with her own safety. If she didn't summon Suicune or another legend, she was told that she'd be tortured. For some reason, she preferred to suffer this silently rather than hand Suicune over to Team Rocket."

Lance made a gesture to cut Brian off. "I still don't believe you, but tell me: why Suicune in particular? Why not another legend?"

Encouraged by the question, Brian perked up a little and said, "Hope told us that Eve could summon Suicune merely by calling her name. Eve acted as if this was the truth; she never denied it, at least."

"Then tell me this, Brian. If Hope helped to capture Eve, why is it that this very same traitor helped us to find Eve's location?"

"What?" Brian asked, obviously shocked. "I had no idea. I haven't heard anything about Hope for a while; I assumed that Team Rocket was putting her talents to use in the war."

"So what happened when Eve was retaken by us? How exactly have they been getting messages to her?"

Brian shook his head. "That much I don't know a lot about. A few days before you took Eve back, I tried to get her some food, since she was being starved. I was caught and beaten badly; Team Rocket doesn't like to have their plans disrupted. Since then, they haven't given me the same privileges of information that I had before.

"But I still had plenty of friends high up who felt sorry for me. They told me a bit of what was happening, thinking that I couldn't do anything about it. All I know is what I've told you - Team Rocket has at least one agent working for them, and that agent has been giving Eve notes telling her to cooperate. When I heard about this, I knew I had to stop it some time. As much as I disagree with Eve on many of her political stances, I hated seeing her get hurt. Especially when it was my fault, and she'd done nothing wrong. So I waited for the right moment, grabbed her pokémon, and escaped. Eve's aerodactyl decided to trust me, so she was the one who flew me here. Few birds were able to keep up with her speed, and those few weren't nearly enough to stand against an aerodactyl, apparently. All of Eve's pokémon as well as my own were confiscated from me when I was taken by your guards on the north side of the city."

Lance stared at Brian for a few more moments, deciding whether this whole tale was the truth or some trick devised by Team Rocket. Finally, he said, "For practicality's sake, I will believe you. Assuming that Eve really is in danger right now, and assuming that Mark gets to her in time to save her, then you have done us a great good. And I can see no benefit in it for either you or Team Rocket. You will stay in confinement for the moment being, but if your story is true, then I expect you to be willing to publicly condemn Rocket Corporation's actions sometime soon."

Brian let out a relieved breath of air. "Thank you for believing me, sir. I know I've helped to cause this whole mess, and I didn't expect any mercy on your part. And yes, of course I'll condemn their actions. I never wanted or condoned revolution and war, especially when the solutions I sought could have been reached through more rational methods."

Lance's gaze suddenly narrowed. "Glad to hear it," he said without any gladness in his voice as he turned and left the room.

As soon as the door was shut behind him, he turned to the still waiting officer. "And? Is Mark on his way to find Eve?"

"I don't know, sir," the officer said, averting his gaze downward. "He's in Violet City at the moment, getting a report from there. We sent a message over there, and so hopefully he'll receive it any moment. That is, if he hasn't already. And sir, if I may be so bold as to ask…"

"Yes?" Lance challenged, his demeanor colder than ever.

The officer kept his eyes downcast slightly. "You don't actually believe Brian, do you?"

"It's too early to say. But I do know that he wouldn't be lying about Eve's current danger," Lance said. Then, his face began to turn red as his usually in check temper flared up suddenly, making his attitude more frightening than that of even the most enraged of dragons. "We can't afford to lose her again. So quit standing around here and find out where Mark is!"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As soon as Eve opened the door that morning, she was greeted – as always – by her two guards. Today, it was Katsu and another man named John.

"Good morning, Eve," Katsu said kindly. "You know, me and John were just talking, and we think that you ought to spend some time outside this morning, don't you think? Even when you do take breaks, you don't go out much. You up for it, for a little while at least?"

_Do as your guards suggest. _Eve nodded, putting her hands behind her back as naturally as she could to hide the sudden trembling that had come upon them. Could this be it? _Surely not Katsu…? But no, he's been trying to encourage me to go outside anyway. He thinks it'll cheer me up. So it's John, then…_

"You know, Blight is looking kind of tired," John spoke up, eyeing the haunter as it sleepily floated through the wall and into the hallway. "You could put her in her pokéball for now, if you wanted. I bet your schedule is taking its toll on her."

~Nah, I'm fine,~ Blight said. ~I'll wake up in a bit. Ghosts just aren't the earliest of risers, is all. We like staying up late and sleeping the day away usually, you know? Wait – Eve? I told you I'm fine!~

But the ghost's protests were rendered null as Eve returned the haunter to its pokéball, which she always carried around in her pocket. _Sorry, Blight. I'll have to leave you for a while. I bet Katsu or someone will take care of you, though. _She took the pokéball and set it down on the small chest of drawers she had in her room.

When she came back out, John looked at her with a meaningful glint in his eyes. "You know, you can still take her with you. I didn't mean for you to leave her behind. After all, she'll be fine again after another hour or two of rest, I bet."

Eve saw the look he had, and she had no doubt that he was the one trying to betray her. But she refused to go back and get her haunter, and John apparently didn't want to make Katsu suspicious by pressing the issue.

Katsu frowned slightly, perhaps realizing that Eve was acting strangely but not thinking much of it due to how relatively unstable she'd been since being rescued from Team Rocket. "Well, why don't we head outside now? Unless you'd rather eat some breakfast first."

Knowing that her betrayer probably wanted to get things over with, she shook her head. She didn't particularly want to delay the inevitable either, for that matter. So they walked casually down the labyrinthine corridors, Katsu and John talking casually all the while. Somehow, John managed to stay perfectly calm throughout this conversation.

_Then he's not just being payed off, _Eve thought anxiously. _He must've been working for Team Rocket for a while. He's used to this. I suppose I should be glad, in a sense… Katsu would be suspicious by now if this was some nervous amateur doing it for the money. _

So they made it outside without drawing any attention to themselves. The guards at the door had been especially wary about letting Eve out, but that was only due to the fact that the last time she had been captured was outside the Pokémon League building. John assured them that they'd radio for help if anything out of the usual occurred, though, and so the three people went on their way without any further trouble.

But with every step they took as they wandered through the area around the main complex – with John, coincidentally, in the lead – Eve became more and more nervous. She still had no doubts that this had to be done, and yet she wasn't sure if she could even survive more time spent under Team Rocket's control.

"Hm? Is something wrong, Eve?" Katsu asked after some time. "You look sort of pale. I mean, more so than usual."

John looked over at Eve casually. "I don't think so. She's just pale anyway from staying inside most of the time. Right?"

Eve nodded, this time folding her hands once again to keep them from shaking.

"Well, we'll head in soon anyway," John said. "But there was a really nice view just a bit ahead of here that I found the other day. The mountain drops off a bit there, and it gives a really great view of the surrounding range. Let's head there, and then go back. Agreed?"

_It's so much like when Hope helped capture me… She said she had the perfect place to battle, and that's where the trap was laid._

Katsu shrugged. "If Eve's sure she's feeling fine, then it's fine with-"

A rustling in the bushes was the only warning the three received before a geodude lunged out of some nearby bushes and forcefully brought it's fist down on the back of Katsu's head.

Eve gasped as he crumpled to the ground. Even after she'd figured out that John was the traitor, she hadn't even thought about what would happen to Katsu so that he couldn't interfere.

"Don't worry," John said offhandedly as he pulled a pokéball from his belt and returned the geodude to its pokéball. "He'll have a pretty bad concussion, but I guess that he'll live. Anyway, there's no time to waste. Let's head back to Ecruteak before we're found out."

He pulled another pokéball off his belt, and this time a kadabra appeared. It was the very same kadabra that had teleported Eve away the first time she had been kidnapped. The sight of the kadabra caused all the painful memories of her first abduction to flood into her mind, and she wanted to scream more than anything; but she knew that she wouldn't have done it even if she'd been able to. Her pokémon's safety was at stake, and her fear couldn't overcome her urge to protect them.

Instead, she closed her eyes and braced herself to return to her own personal hell.

Because she had her eyes closed, she didn't see what happened next. All of a sudden, there was a flurry of movement and the sound of someone screaming, though that scream was quickly cut off by the sound of two heavy thuds some distance away.

Eve opened her eyes and saw that she was in the same place, but that the whole situation had changed. No longer were John and the kadabra in front of her; they were lying crumpled against two tree trunks, as if they'd been tossed there by some powerful throw.

Near to where they had been standing were Mark and Tim, both absolutely livid with rage as they stared at the traitor and his pokémon.

Frantically, Eve looked back and forth from the enraged pair to their victims, unable to quite comprehend what had just happened. Then her eyes went wide with shock and horror as she finally understood what had occurred.

_My pokémon… They'll be… They'll be…_

It was too much for her to bear. Her knees gave out beneath her, and she soon joined John and Katsu in the blackness of unconsciousness.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When Eve awoke, she was lying on her bed in the Indigo Plateau. And despite her brief spell of unconsciousness, she clearly remembered everything that had happened. Tears started to fall down her cheeks as despair overtook her; there was nothing that she could do now.

_So will they start out by killing one of them? Or will they save that until later, after they've hurt them as much as they can? If I can run away now somehow, maybe I can save them. Suicune… Suicune could help me. She could get me away from here. I don't want her hurt, but she wouldn't have to come to Ecruteak with me, she just needs to help me leave. I could do it-_

She opened her mouth to say Suicune's name. But try as she might, the word wouldn't come.

Hopelessness still surging through her, she looked over to where she'd laid Blight's pokéball. Maybe the ghost could help her, somehow. But as soon as her gaze fell upon the top of the chest of drawers, she froze.

_It can't be. Surely… Surely… I can't believe it. It's some trick, it has to be. Maybe. But maybe it's really…_

Without thinking, she rushed over and grabbed all five of the pokéballs that were sitting atop the dresser, cradling them in one arm as if each was more precious than a thousand diamonds. She had no idea how they'd gotten there, but that didn't stop her hopes from rising. Without any delay, she rushed out of the room and down the hallway, unconsciously heading towards one of the practice fields within the Pokémon League. Only a place as large as that would be able to hold all her pokémon if they were let out all at once.

_If it's really them. If it's really them. I hope it's really them. It must be really them. Don't let it be a trick, don't let it be a trick!_

She heard people running after her, shouting at her to stop. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew they were her guards; she recognized Rose's voice, at least. But they didn't matter in the slightest. All she was focused on were the spheres held against her body, five small objects that could be the source of either infinite joy or overwhelming despair.

Despite running into several people during her run through the halls, she reached the training field without being caught by her guards. As soon as she was in, she disregarded the three or four other people training within the room and threw all her pokéballs into the air, the mechanisms opening automatically.

Five bright red flashes of light flared up simultaneously, and in a moment, all of Eve's pokémon were standing in front of her. They didn't stay standing still for long, though; as soon as they saw their trainer, they rushed forward and practically smothered her, each shouting their worry for her and how glad they were to see her.

For the first time in nearly two weeks, Eve was speechless with joy rather than silent from trauma.

It was nearly ten minutes before Eve and her pokémon calmed down enough to once again be aware of their surroundings. In the time since their initial reunion, the trainers previously occupying the room had left. They had been replaced by Lance, Mark, Tim, and Katsu. The four of them appeared to be in mixed moods: Lance was thoughtful, Mark and Tim were still furious looking, and Katsu looked pained as he held a bag of ice to his head.

As Eve quietly turned her attention to them, Katsu was talking to them. "Once again, I'm sorry. I saw that Eve was acting strangely, but I didn't think anything was seriously wrong. And I simply wasn't prepared for that geodude to come at me from out of nowhere. It was my job to protect Eve, and I failed."

"Hardly," Lance said. "You did your job as best you could; the reason we had two guards was so that if one was snuck up on, the other could still fight. I don't blame you for the actions of a traitor. Speaking of which… Mark, what do you think? We haven't yet used the death penalty in this war, but punishment must be swift and furious. We came far too close to disaster. We can't make a public spectacle of it, but everyone here must know that traitors cannot be tolerated."

"Agreed," Mark said darkly. "Our cause would be totally lost if Eve were to be brought under Team Rocket's control once again. Many of us would have died in the coming battles… Many will still die, but it is far from hopeless."

Katsu frowned and, despite his relatively low rank, he spoke up against them. "Surely you two aren't serious? Your judgments are skewed by your own biases – Lance by your pride and Mark by your rage. Who are you to judge who dies and who lives, regardless of their actions? I hate John for betraying my trust and for attempting to take Eve away again. I'd love nothing more than to beat him to a pulp. But he can do no more harm to us so long as we keep him locked up. If you resort to death to solve your problems, how many will begin to wonder just how far your rule over life and death will stretch?"

"Hold your tongue, Katsu," Lance said, glaring at him. "Though you may be somewhat more than an average soldier, that gives you no right to reprimand your commanding officer. The death penalty has always been a part of Johto's governing policies, and I can think of no situation more deserving of it than this. He jeopardized the lives of every single person fighting for the Old Johto."

"Longevity of a law does not guarantee its morality," Katsu countered.

"I told you to hold your tongue," Lance repeated dangerously.

Eve suddenly stood up and sent a withering glare in the direction of Lance and Mark, drawing the attention of the other three humans in the room.

_Why must humans always resort to death? _She thought, her emotions just short of anger. _This is what Team Rocket threatened to do to my pokémon… Kill them to make a point. Even after what he did, I don't think John deserves death. I'm just as much of a traitor as he is. My help to Team Rocket is why we're losing the war, and I was willing to go back to help them. I was forced, of course… But who's to say why John did what he did? Perhaps he is just one of many who'd do anything to see the just side win._

_But I wonder… Does this war have a side more just than the other?_

Katsu looked at Eve hopefully. "You agree with me, right?"

Eve nodded, though she didn't remove her accusing gaze from Mark and Lance.

Lance ignored the look. "Katsu, you are dismissed. Have Rose escort you to the infirmary, but tell her she'll need to come straight back. And Eve, as for you… I'll pardon John of his death penalty if you'll tell me some things."

She continued to glare back at him, making no signal of either agreement or disagreement with this proposition.

Lance apparently took this as acquiescence, for he began, "As you probably don't realize, it is Brian who rescued your pokémon. Mainly, I want to verify the facts of his story. He was practically the only one who talked to you during your captivity, correct?"

Eve nodded.

"And he spoke and acted as if he was on your side, despite his position?"

Another nod.

"He suffered due to trying to aid you?"

Yet again, she answered in the affirmative.

"And you stopped speaking as soon as Team Rocket requested that you summon Suicune or another legend?"

She hesitated; unlike the other questions, this felt personal. Though he was probably just trying to verify facts, Eve couldn't help but think that this was her business. Nonetheless, she eventually nodded.

"All right, then, one last question. And this one is the most important," Lance said. "You have spent more time with Brian than anyone here, and you have seen him in the circumstances of both peacetime and war. Based on his actions today, logic would tell me that I can trust him to an extent. But I want to know – based on your own experiences with him, can you say with certainty that he is on our side?"

Eve thought for a moment, then shook her head. But before Lance could move on to something else, she held up a hand in a gesture to tell him to wait, as if there was more to her 'no' than its most basic meaning. Then she pointed back to herself.

It was Mark who understood her meaning first. "You mean to say that you can say with certainty that he may not be on our side, but he is on your side?"

Eve nodded.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Lance asked.

She made a gesture for a paper and pencil. Mark happened to have a scrap of paper as well as a pencil in his pocket, and he handed these over to her. She quickly wrote down what she meant to say, which she handed to Lance. He read aloud:

"He regrets what he's done, primarily what he's seen done to me. He's trying to make up for it. He made it seem like he still believes in his political ideas, which makes him opposed to you. But he doesn't agree with Team Rocket's way of going about things, either."

"And do you think that he believes this action of returning your pokémon has made up for all he's done to you?" Lance said once he was done with the note.

Eve shook her head, but then shrugged as if to say she couldn't be for sure.

"Well, that's all I needed to know," Lance said. "You are welcome to come here with your pokémon whenever you like, though for now I think I'll forbid you from leaving this building; it's the only place with psychic protection, and outside of it we've seen how vulnerable you are. And if you're willing, I'll request that you continue to evolve as many pokémon as possible. The more you can help, the sooner this war can be over."

Eve nodded; her pokémon returning was no excuse for her to shirk her duty. She still felt it necessary to make things up to the Old Johto for the damage she'd done.

Lance left the room without another word, leaving Eve, her pokémon, Mark, and Tim the only ones in the large training room.

Mark looked at her, his anger now taking a backseat to a mix of happiness and sadness. "So even with your pokémon back… you still won't talk."

Eve looked at him silently, and her pokémon looked at her questioningly. Because they could basically understand her without words, their joy had blinded them to the fact that she wasn't speaking.

~Oh, Eve…~ Pebble said, looking at her sadly. ~I didn't mean for that to happen.~

"So is it because you didn't want to summon Suicune, like Brian says?"

Once again, Eve hesitated and looked down to the ground. She didn't want to admit to it, for some reason. It felt stupid, and she knew that Mark wouldn't accept it as a good enough excuse.

"But you're safe now. And we won't ask you for Suicune. Both she and you are safe."

Eve continued to look down at the ground. The fact still remained that part of her didn't even want to speak. She simply couldn't manage it.

Mark saw that she wasn't going to even try to respond, and in another second, both he and Tim had disappeared.

Only the memory of his disappointed face remained.

* * *

Sorry I had to skip a week there! However, the anime convention was very fun, and my cosplay turned out pretty darn okay, so I feel justified to an extent. ^_^

So yeah, Eve has her pokémon back now! :-) She's still not completely one hundred percent okay after all that's happened to her, but at least things will be better for her now. Hopefully.

Thanks for reading!


	44. Back on Task

**Chapter Forty-Four: Back on Task**

"So you're really not doing anything useful here, are you Brian?" Katsu asked curiously as the person in question joined Rose, Eve, and Katsu at one of the tables in the Pokémon League's mess hall.

Brian smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess that's about right. Lance quite understandably doesn't trust me in battle, and there isn't much I can do here but sit around. Most of my pokémon are under the direction of someone on the front lines as per my suggestion, but other than that… I'm feeling kind of useless. I wish there was something more I could do."

Ever since being allowed relatively free reign within the confines of the Pokémon League three weeks ago, Brian had started taking his meals with Eve and whichever two guards she was with. It had been an awkward arrangement at first, primarily because Katsu had originally been the only guard willing to talk with him; the others endured his presence only because he was one of the few people whom Eve would act relatively relaxed around. Most other people made Eve tense if they came near, due to the lingering trauma of her imprisonment.

Over time, even the other guards got used to Brian, and ever since then his presence had made a welcome addition to the occasionally forced conversations of the guards. At the very least, he always had something to say.

"You're hardly useless, Brian" Rose said as she finished swallowing a bite of bread. "That speech you made a while back condemning Rocket Corporation's actions and labeling them as the crime syndicate they were so many years ago – it was brilliant. Team Rocket did their best to hush it up in the areas under their control, but everyone either heard it or saw it anyway. You know, it's kinda hard to shut down the Internet completely or restrict all incoming content, especially in a nation of people so used to having it. That speech hurt morale badly for their side. I hear that's part of the reason that we finally managed to take Ecruteak last week."

"Eve is probably more to thank than I am," Brian said. "Right, Eve?"

Eve shrugged as she disinterestedly tore a corner from her sandwich and put it in her mouth.

"Well, of course she's more to thank," Katsu said. "Words can start a war and influence its course, but in the heat of battle it comes down to power. Eve's been evolving so many more pokémon lately that there was no way we could have lost."

It was true that Eve had been managing to make more pokémon than usual evolve lately. Part of the reason for this was that her concentration was seemingly improving, allowing her to make more and more pokémon to evolve. The other source of the spike in evolutions was because only the strongest pokémon most likely to evolve were being brought to Eve. Team Rocket had never quite put two and two together and figured out that Eve's ability wasn't something of pure chance, and that stronger pokémon were more likely to evolve; now that the fact was being put to use, it definitely sped up the process.

"So, who wants to make a bet on how much longer this stupid civil war will last?" Rose said playfully as she finished up the last of her apple. "We've only got Olivine and Cianwood to go, so I'm going to say no more than a month. I'd put twenty dollars on it."

"No way. Less than two months, maybe. I'd bet on that," Katsu said. "Cianwood will take a while to be taken. It may not be big, but it's surrounded by water and easily defendable."

The two looked at Brian expectantly, and he said, "Sorry, I'm not much one for making bets. I'd fall more in line with Katsu's guess, though, and maybe even make it a little longer than that. They're not planning on being defeated without a fight." He paused, and then looked to Eve with an expression more serious than before. "You know, Eve, there was something I'd been wanting to talk to you about. I'd prefer to just speak with you, but something tells me that your guards aren't about to let a former Rocket member talk to you alone."

"Doesn't matter if you're Rocket or not," Rose said offhandedly through a mouthful of sandwich. "We're not supposed to let anyone speak to Eve unless someone else is listening in."

"Well, if there's any two guards who I'd want to hear this, it's you two," Brian said. "Anyway, Eve, it's about everything you were doing with the legends before the war broke out. I'll try not to say too much if you don't want me to, but even so – do you mind if I talk in front of them?"

Eve shook her head, but she sent as meaningful as a glance as she could manage toward Katsu and Rose.

"Psst! Katsu!" Rose whispered comically, loudly enough for the whole group to hear. "I think that means she wants us to swear to secrecy or something!"

Eve smiled a bit at her humor and nodded, and so both guards promised not to speak of it.

Once that was taken care of, Brian continued in an undertone, "It's just that I wanted you to know that Team Rocket is investigating all the myths that Hope told them about. You know, everything you told her after the three legendary beasts spoke with you, or so she said. They hadn't found anything definitive while I was still there. But just because they don't have you anymore doesn't mean that they won't keep on looking into it."

"If they didn't find out anything, then why even bother telling her about it now?" Katsu asked.

"Well, I just can't help but think that she might want to continue looking for other legends once this war is finally over," Brian said. "But the fact is that even if they're defeated, much of the non-public leadership of Team Rocket will probably remain to keep the group alive. And they might keep on looking into the legends, which means that Eve might run into them again. I thought I'd at least give her fair warning."

Eve smiled to show her gratitude, but even this small expression was hard for her to manage due to the flood of thoughts Brian had just reawakened. Ever since being reunited with all of her pokémon, Eve's mind had been able to return to other, only slightly less stressing topics. Most prominent among these was the lingering feeling that she needed to get back to finding the other three legends. Whenever she woke up, it was the first thought in her head; as she drifted off to sleep, she wondered and dreamed about what the legends of Life, Death, and Purpose might be like. Just like the feathers in her hair, the urge to continue what she had started had become an immovable part of her.

_I don't think I can wait another month or two for this war to be over. Or at least, I don't want to. I want to get moving, I want to find them, I want to-_

"Hey, Eve? You listening to us?"

Eve snapped out of her thoughts as Katsu asked this question.

Rose sighed and shook her head. "Don't go off in your own little world, now. You'll worry poor little Katsu here."

Katsu rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Eve, I put away your tray while you were zoning out. So, you want to get back to evolving? Or do you want to take a break? You seem kind of out of it today."

Not wanting them to worry, Eve quickly stood up and started heading towards the exit. Katsu and Rose followed closely behind. "Well, if you're sure you're okay…" Katsu said as he realized Eve was leading them back to the room where myriad pokémon were just waiting to evolve. "But don't push yourself too hard. As we were saying earlier, the war is getting much better. And though Lance would probably kill me if he heard me telling you this, I think that evolving pokémon isn't quite as urgent. It still helps a lot, but I'm sure an extra hour or two of sleep couldn't hurt you."

Eve more or less ignored his comments as they traveled down the hallways. She was going out of her way to take the less populated route to the room, but every now and then she couldn't help having to pass someone coming from the other direction. It always made her stiffen with fearfulness; she couldn't shake the feeling that they might turn and attack her right when they were closest. Her mind could master this fear enough for her to function in Indigo Plateau, but it was nonetheless an unpleasant sensation.

_I've got to get out of here._

The thought had popped into her mind many times over the past few weeks, its appearance becoming more and more frequent as time passed.

_I've paid back my debt to the Old Johto; I've evolved more pokémon for them then I did during my time under Team Rocket. I can't stand being around here and being forced to stay indoors. It makes me feel like I'm in a cage. And things just keep on getting worse and worse for me… Since the war is getting easier for our side, Lance is letting more people come back here to rest a week or two before going back to war. They're all good enough people, I'm sure, but that doesn't make me any less scared of them. And these stupid feathers in my hair and what they're making me think is driving me nuts. I have to find the other legends. Even after hearing Brian's warning, I'm no less determined._

These sorts of thoughts drifted annoyingly throughout her head as she did her rote work of evolution. Unlike any day before, however, she simply couldn't shake them from her head; normally, she could eventually work her way onto other less frustrating thoughts. By the end of the day, they were nagging at her mind so badly that she made up her mind.

She was going to leave Indigo Plateau.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The plan Eve had was simple enough, but it nonetheless took a few days to get it put into action. First she had to get permission from Lance to go outside; she had to ask Katsu in a note to go ask Lance for her, since she couldn't do much in the way of convincing. Lance was off fighting in some battle at that time, however, and this was what caused the several day delay.

With some reluctance, Lance eventually agreed to Eve's request on the condition that she stay essentially right next to the Pokémon League building the entire time. It was the only way to ensure that she'd still be in range of the building's psychic pokémon protection. As soon as she had this clearance, it was time to put the plan in action.

"So did you want to go outside now, or later?" Rose asked after breakfast; she and another girl named Maggie were Eve's guards for today.

Eve nodded to hopefully indicate that now was the better option, though she felt kind of bad as she did so. Both Rose and Maggie would get in _huge _trouble if she escaped under their watch. Lance would probably descend on them with his dragonish wrath as soon as he heard the news; the mere thought of this sent sympathetic waves of guilt through Eve's body. She almost backed out from her plan then and there.

But as soon as she was out of the building, her courage returned. Just being outside felt so good that she almost hated Lance for forbidding it for so long, even if he had just reasons for doing so. New leaves were just beginning to unfurl on all the trees Eve saw, and the air carried with it the wonderful scent of an approaching storm, even though the sky was perfectly clear for now. Spring had just started, and its freshness filled Eve with new determination.

Eve led the way along the edge of the building in almost a stupor, and her guards mistook her ignorance of them as only happiness at being outside. That was part of it, of course, but the other part was her anxiety about escaping.

"Guess it was kinda mean for Lance to keep you cooped up inside for so long," Rose said with a smile after a few minutes of walking, amused at how entranced Eve was with her surroundings. "I'm glad to see you're enjoying our stroll."

They were out of sight of the main gates by now, and so Eve grabbed a pokéball from her hip pouch, which was identical to the one that had presumably been taken by Team Rocket; Mark had bought her this new one as soon as she had gotten all her pokémon back. Before Rose and Maggie could even question why she was getting out a pokéball, Eve released Thistle from the red and white sphere.

Thistle, who had no idea what Eve was planning, happily stretched her wings and took off immediately. ~It feels so good to see the open sky again! Why haven't we gone outside before now, Eve?~ she screeched down.

The two guards curiously watched the prehistoric pokémon fly above them for a while before Maggie finally said, "Oh, did she need some exercise? I never even thought about that. Guess she can't really fly much in the training fields, even as big as they are."

"I never thought about it, either," Rose said. "Hey Eve, what about Aiden? He probably can't run as much as he wants to indoors, either."

Eve pretended not to hear. This whole plan would go a lot more smoothly if Thistle was the only one out right now. She stood there pretending to be completely absorbed by her aerial acrobatics. In reality, she was just anxious for Thistle to land again so she could get away.

It took only another five minutes before the aerodactyl did just that. ~Eve, you should come with me!~ she whined. ~It's such a nice day for flying.~

Eve smiled and nodded. _Just another moment, and then we'll be doing a lot of flying._

She left Thistle's side and walked the few steps back over to her guards, pulling a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket as she went. She handed this paper to Rose; inside it, Eve explained in the most apologetic way possible that she couldn't stand to stay, and that Lance could blame her treason on her obvious psychological issues, if he wanted. Eve didn't really care.

Then, before Rose and Maggie had the chance to actually open the note up and read it, Eve walked back over to Thistle, launched herself onto the aerodactyl's back, and sharply kicked Thistle's sides to show that this was more than just a pleasure flight.

To Eve's delight, Thistle understood the message without a problem and immediately propelled herself into the air as fast as she could manage. Eve held on tightly and tapped her feet against the aerodactyl's sides to tell her to go due east.

Of course, Eve's guards had enough of a sense of duty to not let her go without a fight. Very soon after starting their flight away from the plateau itself, a number of bird pokémon were after them, one of them being Rose's own swellow, Volatil.

~Eve, what am I supposed to do?~ Thistle asked as some of the fastest pokémon began catching up.

_A supersonic attack would probably be best… But how do I tell her?_

~Supersonic?~ Thistle asked, as if reading her mind. ~That was the clearest I'd heard you yet!~ She turned her head and emitted a ear-piercing screech. Eve got the worst of it, and she desperately clung to Thistle's neck to escape the effects. Behind her, however, the birds had nothing to cling to in order to steady themselves; instinct kept them from crashing to the ground, but it couldn't help them stay on course. In battle, this would have been only a temporary hindrance to the attackers. In an already high-speed flight chase, it was enough to allow Thistle to put plenty of distance between herself and her pursuers.

As soon as Eve's supersonic-induced headache went away in a minute or so, she wondered at how easily Thistle had been able to tell what she had been thinking. _Now that I think about it, pokémon are kind of geared for battle. Maybe understanding attack commands comes more naturally than other things. It _is _one of the easiest things for any pokémon to do on command; after all, if trainers had to teach any pokémon to recognize every single battle command, I guess training wouldn't be such a glorified dream._

Eve didn't have much time to dwell on this, however. As they approached the edge of Lance's proclaimed boundary of the Indigo Plateau, Eve saw nearly two other birds – the bigger ones with trainers on their backs – waiting for them.

Eve desperately pulled upwards on Thistle's neck, and the aerodactyl responded by flying even higher. It made it a bit harder for Eve to breathe, which was difficult enough to do already due to the lingering effects of Blight's days as a gastly. Still, she knew she only had to endure it for a little while. Going higher meant many of the less powerful birds couldn't reach them.

The ones that matched Thistle's height as they approached, however, were the most dangerous of the bunch: a pidgeot, two unpheasants, and an altaria, all rather high-leveled pokémon.

~What do we do now?~ Thistle asked as they drew ever nearer.

Eve kicked her heels against Thistle's side. _Charge right through them. You may not have the experience and the power to beat them, but you've got the bulk and momentum to get past them. And… Wait for it… Supersonic!_

Thistle flew faster than ever, and just before they reached their aerial assailants Thistle unleashed her attack. It worked, though admittedly it was almost drowned out by the roar of the wind as four powerful gust attacks hit her, for a moment knocking her over in the air. Eve held on tightly, and Thistle eventually righted herself.

By then, they were back down to the level many of the rest of the birds could manage. But they were so small that they hardly bothered Thistle. She flew straight through them, roaring as she went to scare off the more faint-hearted flying-types. The four stronger pokémon from above attempted to dive to stop Thistle, but the confusion attack had done its job. The four birds bumped into each other as they flew and all began flying off-course, leaving the path more than clear for Thistle.

~Ha! Take that!~ Thistle screeched triumphantly. ~Barely five months old and able to take out a whole flock! But anyway, Eve… Where are we going? And why were they trying to get at you?~

_I'm not sure where exactly we're going, and they simply wanted me to keep helping the war there, _Eve thought to herself, hoping Thistle would understand.

Thistle tilted her head slightly as if trying to wrap her mind around whatever part of Eve's statement she'd heard. ~You don't know how to get somewhere? And you want to find it, so that's why you left?~

Eve shook her head in almost amused frustration.

~Oh,~ Thistle said, realizing she'd gotten something wrong. ~Well, anyway, looks like there's a storm ahead… Want me to land?~

Eve looked at the forested mountains beneath her and tapped Thistle's sides with her heels yet again. _Wait until we absolutely have to. I'm sure any birds that can be spared from guard duty will be after us any minute, and we don't want them finding us._

Though the young aerodactyl probably didn't understand most of what Eve had thought, she kept on flying towards the black clouds that seemed to double in size with every passing minute.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

~Eve, are you sure we shouldn't start a fire?~ Aiden said as he curled around Eve under the protection of a steep overhang. ~I bet Hannah wouldn't mind going out and grabbing some dead branches; she likes the rain, after all.~

~Yeah, it wouldn't be a problem,~ Hannah said. ~The rain is refreshing!~

Eve looked out into the distance, watching the rain fall and the lightning crash on the mountainous area in front of them. Then she shook her head; she didn't want Hannah going out into that storm, even if it was only a little ways down the slope to grab some wood. Eve was comfortable enough as she was. The arcanine's internal heat and his warm fur was more than enough to keep Eve warm.

Right now, Eve and four of her pokémon were taking refuge from the storm in their little hidden haven; the fifth, Thistle, was in her pokéball due to her dislike of water. They'd gone far since escaping from the Indigo Plateau, and between this storm and how impossible it would be for any bird to see them from the skies, Eve felt secure. Now she and her pokémon were simply enjoying each other's company as the pokémon tried to piece together exactly why Eve had left.

So as her pokémon chatted amongst themselves (often looking to her for confirmation of their theories), Eve's mind drifted off to the implications of what she had done.

_Honestly, I'm starting to feel a bit guilty… There are people risking their lives in the war, but I can't even do my duty in a place where I'm comfortable and well-protected. Only… I guess I wasn't really comfortable there. I had my own room and good meals and stuff, but all those people there… Why is it I can't stand them anymore? It's almost like I don't care what happens to them. I know it's terrible for me to think that, but it's true. I wouldn't wish death on anyone, but ever since all that torture under Team Rocket, I'm just…_

~You're changed, Eve,~ Pebble suddenly chimed, surprising Eve by essentially finishing her sentence; she hadn't been trying to direct her thoughts at anyone, and up until now that had been the only way her pokémon could get a general idea of what she was saying. Pebble continued, ~Everyone changes… You've been through so much that it was inevitable. I can't really say for sure if it's a good change or a bad change, but it's who you are for the moment.~

~Hey, guys?~ Blight interrupted. ~I don't mean to ruin the nice philosophical moment or anything, but there's a pokémon coming this way. I can't really see him well, but he's pretty small.~

Eve squinted out through the curtains of rain streaming through the dimness of the storm-darkened evening, but she could see nothing.

_He's welcome here if he needs a place out of the rain,_ Eve thought, waiting expectantly for the next bolt of lightning to illuminate the sky with its stark light. She didn't have to wait long; right when Eve caught sight of the small, dim figure at the edge of their little shelter, a lightning bolt struck nearby, nearly blinding Eve in the momentary flash.

Eve's shocked gasp was covered by the deafening rumble of thunder that immediately followed. For this pokémon – this tiny, sopping wet pokémon – was none other than a raichu. And it wasn't just any raichu. It was downright tiny at barely a foot in height, firstly. And even more noticeably, its tail was so long and whippy that it could practically have been used as a jump rope for Hannah. As the raichu shook the wetness from his fur, there was no doubt about it; this was quite literally an identical twin to Basil as he had appeared in the last moments of his life.

Despite the fact that the similarity was so uncanny as to take Eve's breath away and stun all her pokémon into wordless awe, not even Eve allowed herself to be taken in by the illusion, however pleasing it would have been to see Basil alive again. There was more to telling pokémon apart than appearance; otherwise, there would be no way to tell apart individuals of some species, such as voltorb. Just as it played a huge role in pokémon communication, instinct also had its influence in recognition.

So though Eve couldn't have sited the reasons for the difference, she knew there was something entirely wrong that couldn't have made this raichu her departed friend. For one, Eve could tell that the raichu wasn't a 'he', even though Basil had been (aside from his size and tail) proportioned like any other male pikachu or raichu. No, this raichu was definitely a girl, though she had those same proportions. Even aside from this obvious difference, Eve could easily tell that it simply wasn't the same individual; maybe it was something in how this raichu carried herself, or maybe it was something even more abstract.

~Well, I guess I can't fool you. Glad to see your instinct's up to snuff!~ the raichu said cheerfully. Then – to Eve's surprise – the raichu's body seemingly melted down into little more than a gelatinous blob, though it was hard to see in the dim light. ~I'm actually just a humble ditto. Sorry if I surprised you. But I was there when your raichu died for you, and he was such a unique pokémon that I just had to memorize how to transform into him. I would have helped you two, but… Well, I doubt I would've stood a chance against that houndoom. Forgive me if this prank just now was a bit uncalled for.~

Eve shook her head, meaning that it wasn't a problem. If she had been fooled even for a second, it would have been a different matter; her soul would have been crushed all over again as soon as the truth came out. But since she hadn't been tricked, she harbored no ill will towards this strange little pokémon.

~How can you memorize how to transform into someone?~ Hannah asked. ~I know another ditto, but she can only transform into something she sees. She always said it was too hard to remember that much detail.~ Hannah was talking about Kiki, Mark's ditto.

~It's hard, but I'm a bit of a genius among ditto, if I do say so myself,~ the ditto said proudly. As if to prove her point, she transformed into another pokémon. Eve couldn't quite see it in the dim light at first, but in another moment the bipedal pokémon sat down, swung its tail around, and then lit up the small orb at the tip of its tail. ~You see? Now I'm a flaaffy! It's one of my favorites for dark and stormy nights like tonight, 'cause the lightning gets me all excited.~

Eve smiled at the ditto's enthusiasm. _It's so nice to meet a friendly pokémon so soon after leaving Indigo Plateau. It makes me feel a little bit better about leaving. _

The flaaffy-ditto casually moved closer to the group and brightened her tail light, further illuminating the little group. ~So you're one of them not-humans, right?~ she asked.

~How did you know that?~ Pebble asked curiously as Eve nodded her head.

The flaafy shrugged. ~It's pretty easy to tell, really. I've lived a long time, and I've occasionally had the chance to chat with some pretty knowledgeable pokémon. I like legends and stuff, so I once heard the myth. Admittedly, it's kind of a weird myth, since I heard it from a human, and they say everything so weirdly. I thought they were talking about some noise-making device of the humans at first, but it turns out that that's just the same word for someone who summons stuff. Weird how they don't mean what they say, huh?~

_Noise making device… Does she mean a pokéflute? I still remember some of that thing the scientists translated for me… It said something about a pokéflute. I thought that meant I'd need some special pokéflute eventually, but from what this ditto is saying... I guess I don't? Or something. She's not being very clear about what she means. _Eve instinctively reached into her pouch to find her own small pokéflute, only to realize that it wasn't there; it and everything else from her original pouch had been taken by Team Rocket.

~Well, anyway,~ the flaafy-ditto continued, ~I bet you know all about it, so you probably don't want to hear what I learned all those years ago. Besides, humans tend to get everything wrong, so what I heard probably isn't accurate.~

~We'd love to hear it anyway,~ Hannah offered. ~After all, there's not much better to do while we're hiding from the storm. And we don't understand everything about the myths, either, so maybe we'll learn something.~

The tail orb glowed more brightly. ~Really? Well, in that case, I love telling stories! So anyway, here's what I remember. There's this human, right? But that human isn't actually a human, or not in spirit. And that human can go around and talk to a bunch of pokémon who represent existence itself, and she collects sorta souvenirs from each of them. Looks like you already started that, right?~

Eve touched the feathers in her hair and nodded.

~Okay, well, after all that is the good part. Once the human gets all the little existence fragments or whatever, pretty much everything we've ever known could change! It's got something to do with recreating how things were at the beginning of the world by summoning some great pokémon who was there when it all began. What d'ya think about that?~

Eve shook her head and thought to the ditto, _It's all pretty confusing how you put it. And vague. _

The flaafy cocked her head curiously. ~You know, for being a not-human, your pokémon speech is kinda hard to comprehend. I think you're thinking too much about it. You aren't going to be able to use telepathy, after all. Don't try thinking the human words, cause the human words themselves don't mean anything to us pokémon. Just know the general idea of what you say, and I bet it'll come more easily.~

_I'm not sure how well that'll work…_

~Cheer up! You're already pretty good at it. Just don't think whole sentences in your head. Maybe just start them so that your mind knows where it's headed, and then just know the rest. It's a piece of cake! Any pokémon can do it from birth, after all. If you've really got the spirit of a pokémon, then I bet learning human language just made you forget it.~

Pebble slithered a little closer to the flaaffy and looked at her more closely. ~Exactly how old are you? My parents are very old and they told me many stories, but even they don't remember the time when Eve's legend was commonly told. It's not something I would've forgotten.~

The flaafy bleated sheepishly. ~I've just been around the block a few times, is all. Nothing to be curious about. I just try to have fun with life. But anyway, thanks for sharing your little shelter for a bit! Next time we meet, I hope it's sunny so we can play!~

_I'd like that! _Eve said, though she didn't quite think it in her mind as per the ditto's suggestion. _But won't your fur get wet if you leave now?_

~Now you're getting it!~ the ditto said. ~That was so much better. I'm such a good teacher! But no, don't worry about my fur! A quick change of pokémon, and all of a sudden-~ She stepped into the rain and morphed quickly, changing into a pokémon Eve knew very well thanks to her involvement with Lance: a dragonite. ~Voila! Now stormy winds and rain and lightning aren't gonna be a problem. Bye-bye now!~

She opened her wings – which, in reality, seemed nearly ten times bigger when extended than when they were folded against her body – and she took off more quickly than they eye could follow.

~That's pretty impressive,~ Blight said as the ditto receded into the distance, her dark-accustomed eyes the only ones that could keep sight of her for long. ~Pebble, do you want to be able to do that someday?~

Pebble made an amused humming noise. ~Maybe. For now, I'm just curious about that ditto. It seemed rather knowledgeable on human matters and on legends, at least for a pokémon. Don't you think she was kind of strange?~

Eve nodded. _But she was fun, too. Strange as she was, it was nice meeting her._

~I liked her, too,~ Aiden barked. ~She should've stayed around a little longer!~

An exceedingly loud peal of thunder rang out, and Eve yet again found her attention drawn to the storm that raged around them. _Well, I suppose it's probably time to sleep. I'll keep Aiden out with me, but the rest of you can rest in your pokéballs. See you in the morning!_

Once again, the ditto's tip seemed to be helping, for all of her pokémon seemed to understand what she was saying. She returned them all to their pokéballs, then snuggled herself up against Aiden's side.

And despite the rain and the thunder and the cold ground beneath her, Eve's sleep that night was more restful than any night's sleep she'd had in months.

* * *

In the last couple weeks, I've become increasingly obsessed with the idea of writing a pokémon mystery dungeon fic, since there is no 5th gen dungeon game out yet... And then in the last three nights, the creativity has been flowing and a really marvelous story has been slowly forming... But I can't start it until I finish either this or my Shugo Chara fic... Which I don't really regret, because right now I'm just experimenting with plot ideas and character development for the story. But just out of curiosity, are there any PMD fans out there who would really love to see this happen? If so, let me know in a review or something. As I said, I'm just really curious how many people would be interested in it. :-)

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and thanks especially to all of you who are reviewing! ^_^ I hope you continue to enjoy the story!


	45. Moving On

**Chapter Forty-Five: Moving On**

Once Eve guessed that she and her pokémon were well outside of Johto, she and her pokémon slowed their pace and began wandering for a few days. They avoided any city and towns and kept to the wildest areas that Eve could find, which was where she felt the most comfortable. She had no problems finding food; usually, the local pokémon were kind enough to point her in the direction of berry and apricorn trees, and there were plenty of other wild fruits and vegetables that Eve was able to identify and harvest for herself. Her pokémon, likewise, could provide well enough for themselves. Aiden and Thistle both hunted while Blight, Hannah, and Pebble accompanied Eve, since they ate roughly the same sorts of things as she did.

Eve wasn't sure where she was going, exactly. Her first priority had been to escape from the Indigo Plateau, which by some miracle she'd managed to pull off. Yet even though she didn't know where she was headed, she did feel like she was going to somewhere in particular. It was a bit like the sensation she'd had that had drawn her to the legendary beasts in Burned Tower, except this feeling was much duller and less precise.

After four days of walking on her own two feet, riding on Aiden, and flying on Thistle, she found herself at the east coast of Kanto. Her knowledge of Kanto was limited, so she wasn't entirely sure if she was in the north or south half of the region. She wasn't completely lost despite this, though; from the sky she had managed to spy the famed Boardwalk Park, a recreational area known for its fishing and miles of beautiful walkways. If she needed something, she knew that there had to be several towns in the broader area surrounding the park.

It was in the wilds a bit west of those boardwalks that Eve and her pokémon had stopped early that afternoon, trying to decide what to do next.

~Well, we can't just keep on moving east,~ Hannah pointed out. ~Even if we were able to avoid storms, Thistle wouldn't be able to fly across an entire ocean to wherever you need to go.~

Pebble slithered a little closer to Eve. ~Are you sure there isn't something around here that you're being drawn to? You don't seem entirely certain that across the ocean is where you need to be.~

~Now that you mention it, I think you're probably right,~ Eve said. With the help of that strange ditto's advice, Eve's ability to communicate with both her own pokémon and wild pokémon had progressed so much that it was perfectly understandable. ~I don't think I came this way to leave the continent… I'm almost feeling like I should head north. I think I saw a city that way, and I think maybe that's where I need to go.~

Hannah's leaf drooped a little. ~But Eve, that can't be a good idea. You're too recognizable. Who knows what Lance will do if he finds out where you are? Or what if it's Team Rocket that learns your location?~

Eve smiled. ~Yeah, you're right - It'd be bad. But I've got a plan.~

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When Eve walked into the town the next morning with Blight invisibly at her side, she looked like an entirely different person. Her clothes were the same casual jeans and t-shirt that she'd left the Pokémon League in; aside from this outfit, however, there was no way anyone could possibly identify her now.

Ever since entering the spotlight of politics, she'd been most known for her long, bright red hair and that lock of wartortle hair that she'd always braided into her hair. With a wild scyther's help, much of that hair had been roughly chopped off, leaving her with an uneven, not-quite-shoulder-length haircut. Because her hair had so much less weight now, her hair's natural waves were showing quite a bit more than usual, further distinguishing Eve from her former, practically straight-haired self. By itself, this haircut was quite a dramatic change. However, the change was made all the more drastic by the fact that her hair was now dyed completely black, thanks to the efforts of a horsea Eve had managed to find. Eve knew that the ink they used for their smokescreens was a practically permanent stain on fibers, and so she was confident that this disguise would last essentially for as long as she needed it. As for the light blue bit of wartortle tail, Eve had braided it and made it into a bracelet.

The finishing touch to all of this was a baseball cap that Eve had spotted woven into a large nest a day or two ago; the fearow who had made the nest had quite graciously parted with it when Eve asked to have it. The cap covered the brightly colored feathers secured on Eve's head and shaded her face. With this addition, Eve knew there was no chance that anyone would recognize her; she doubted that even Mark would know her at first glance.

While Eve walked aimlessly through the town, Blight suddenly said, ~Oh, Eve, that really is it, that really is it! I saw it earlier, and I thought that maybe this was the place, but I didn't think it was so far away from where I ended up!~

Eve looked to her side to try to see what her haunter was looking at, only to realize that the excited ghost was still invisible. So she turned her head back to where she was going and asked, ~What place are you talking about?~

~That tower that we're sort of heading towards!~ Blight responded. ~That's my old home! Me and every single other ghost I've ever met in my life lived there! There were a bunch of memorial graves lined up in there for dead pokémon, so it was the perfect place for us ghosts.~

~Why'd you leave if it was so perfect?~

~Humans took out all the graves and started changing the building,~ Blight said, her voice sorrowful. ~We couldn't live there anymore, so most of us left. Most of the ghosts I was traveling with settled in another tower out towards where you found me. But I didn't like that place, because there were enough humans and pokémon around that we had to hide during the day.~

_I remember someone telling me about ghost problems at Sprout Tower. I guess this was the reason. Who would've thought all those ghosts would have traveled across all of Kanto and into Johto just to find a new home?_

~But you know, Eve,~ Blight continued, ~The tower looks like it's back to how it originally was! Do you think that maybe we could go there? Maybe the humans changed their minds and turned the tower back to normal.~

As Eve examined the tower, she found an almost insatiable curiosity fill her. _If this place housed old graves and things, then maybe this is where the pokémon of Death is… Kind of a creepy thought. At least I wouldn't have to meet him now; I need to find a human who represents death first. But how does anyone represent death? Do I need to find a murderer, or someone who has had a lot of people die that he or she knew… Or is it something completely different? Life and Death are both so different from Unity and Power... Purpose shouldn't be too hard to figure out, but I'm at a loss when it comes to those other two._

~Um, Eve? Did you hear me?~ Blight said, jerking Eve out of her thoughts. ~I was asking if we can go to the tower. Can we?~

Eve nodded. ~Of course we can. Let's go.~

It was easy to get to the tower; the town was small, and no matter which direction they went to get around the dead ends they ran into, the tower was constantly looming over them. It was something constantly both very near and very far away, in a sense making it very similar to how death itself is often perceived.

But before Eve could enter the building to find out if it really was the place she was looking for, a voice sounded from right behind her:

"Hey, Eve and Blight. How's it going?"

Eve jumped up in surprise, and Blight flashed into visibility; neither trainer nor pokémon had seen or heard the person coming. However shocking it was, though, Eve recognized the voice and quickly turned around to see Jenna standing right behind her.

"I almost didn't realize it was you when I first saw you approaching Pokémon Tower," Jenna continued, unapologetic about startling them. "You've got the right idea as far as changing your hair. Lance'll have a hell of a time trying to find you now. He was furious when he found out you were gone. He thought that maybe Team Rocket was still threatening you somehow, and that you'd gone off to them; I'll have to let him not to worry. You're obviously capable of taking care of yourself. And I'm not going to tell him where I found you, of course; I just had a feeling you might end up here, and so I ditched the army for a few days and decided to wait and see if you showed up. Giving your last respects to Basil?"

Eve shook her head; of course, she hadn't even had a clue about what this tower was until a few minutes ago.

Jenna grinned. "Well, then, that leaves me to suspect that maybe you're here for Ho-Oh's deathly counterpart. Am I right?"

A shrug followed by a slight nod was Eve's response; though she was certainly hopeful that she might find some clue here, this place didn't have quite the draw that Burned Tower and Bell Tower had possessed.

"I'm still curious about what'll happen if you can change the world, so I figured I'd help you out a bit. That's why I'm here," Jenna said. "Of course, I don't know much, but I've figured out a little at least. So first of all, let's chat about this place. I've actually got a bit of a history with it. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but Evan and I really started getting to know each other after working on a case here. Several years back, Goldenrod Radio Corporation bought the building and started trying to convert it into a radio tower. Some people thought this was sacrilege to the deceased pokémon that the tower had honored for as long as anyone could remember, but most people welcomed the idea.

"But there were a lot of problems during renovations. Ghosts still showed up during construction, an unusual number of people involved with the building were dying from various causes… It was a mess. Brian called me in to help; we'd found out the hard way from our first and only other job together that I could channel ghosts, and he thought that ability would be useful for such an important case.

"Now, the weird thing about that case is that I don't remember any of it now. And even weirder was that it had practically disappeared completely from my memory before your little problem of searching for Death started me thinking about the tower. All I know about the case now is that it ended with the corporation converting the tower back to how it was. Apparently, the root cause of the deaths and ghosts was too big for even me to manage, though admittedly non-pokémon ghosts aren't exactly my field of expertise. So you know, I'm sorta thinking… What if I had a run-in with this Death pokémon you're looking for? He coulda 'killed' my memories, so to speak… I sort of get the feeling that's what happened. And when I get a feeling, it's usually right."

Jenna paused for a moment, letting Eve comprehend all that information. Then she continued, "Now, if this place isn't actually the place you're looking for, then I do have one more lead for you. I kept on bugging Cynthia about Giratina's myth after you told me that Mespirit told you that maybe he had something to do with all this. Cynthia eventually told me that Giratina's myth was very, very old and mostly just scraps of oral folklore. Supposedly, he lives in another dimension, but he comes to our world in an old graveyard by a hidden spring somewhere in Sinnoh. That's all she knew, but at least you might be able to find another legend with that info, and it might be the legend you're looking for. Anyway, good luck with Pokémon Tower!"

Eve looked at Jenna for a moment, confused; she pointed to Jenna, and then to the tower to try to convey her question.

"Nah, I'll let you do your own pokémon searching," Jenna said, understanding Eve's question perfectly. "I'm going to visit Evan's parents, tell 'em that I haven't let Evan get into too much trouble yet. They live here in Lavender Town, you know. But hey, I'll tell you what. I'll drop by here later and see if you found anything, if you feel like hanging around that long. So see you then."

Jenna walked off, and so Eve turned her attention back to the tower itself. ~We might as well head in, then,~ Eve said to Blight as she headed to the main entrance.~So did you ever sense any really strong pokémon while you were here?~

~It's hard to say,~ Blight says. ~Even us ghost pokémon always felt like we were being watched here… But not in a creepy way. It was just as if something was here with us. Definitely stronger than us. And yet it was never quite here. Like it was watching from a distance, or something.~

Suddenly, Eve sensed rather than heard something approaching her, and she turned just in time to see a gastly zoom past her head and up to the still visible Blight. ~Wow, I can't believe it's you!~ the gastly said to Blight. ~I haven't seen you in ages! We all wanted to let you know when we found out that this tower was back to normal, but we had no way to find you. So are you back here for good?~

~No, though it's great to be back!~ Blight said. ~But I'm traveling with a trainer now, so I'll be sticking with her. But anyway, how have you been? Played any good tricks on the humans here lately?~

"Um, miss?" a woman behind a nearby counter in this lobby area suddenly said, distracting Eve from the conversation. "If those ghost pokémon are bothering you, we have spell tags that you can borrow while you're here. They help keep them away."

Eve shook her head, but smiled to show that she appreciated the offer. Then she turned her attention back to Blight and her friend. ~Man, would I ever like to say hi to everyone else!~ Blight was saying. ~Eve, would you mind if I went off and saw all my other friends here? I'll find you again in a bit.~

~Go ahead,~ Eve said happily, glad that Blight seemed to be enjoying herself. ~I'll just be looking around to see if I can find any clues about this place, and if there is anything important here.~

~All right, then, let's go!~ the gastly said before floating upwards and straight through the ceiling; Blight zoomed after him, her expression completely ecstatic.

_Guess it's just me, then, _Eve thought to herself as she walked up the stairs. Upon reaching the next floor, she found herself in a room filled with grave markers of all shapes and sizes. Many had flowers sitting next to them, or little snacks that were probably some departed pokémon's favorite food. Quite a few people were milling about on this floor, murmuring to themselves or folding their hands in prayer.

_It's nice to see people caring for pokémon. Not that that's anything new. It just seems surprising now, after everything I've been through thanks to humans. I'm even on the run from humans now… I can't help but think that if everyone regretted the deaths of others as much as these people probably do, there would be no war going on right now to begin with. No one would want to risk it._

She moved up to the next floor, then to the floor after that and the floor after that. She went slowly so as to not miss any hints or clues as to why or when this tower was made, thinking that an answer to either of those questions might shed some light on any deified pokémon it might have been constructed for. But Eve found nothing except more gravestones, more people, and the occasional cold breeze of an invisible ghost floating past. All of these things became less numerous as Eve climbed further into the upper reaches of the tower; Eve supposed that most of the grievers who set up little memorials in here didn't want to climb all the stairs every time they wished to pay tribute to their loved ones, and the ghosts in turn preferred to stick around where all those people were.

So eventually, Eve found herself completely alone on the topmost floor; only a few graves stood along the edges of the room. At a loss as to what she should do next, she walked over to a rather odd assortment of grave markers at the opposite side of the room. The smallest was a simple piece of wood lying on the floor, covered with a young child's finger painted depiction of a pet meowth. Along the bottom, a neater hand had written the meowth's name. Other memorials – some barely larger than the wood one, others reaching up some four feet or so – sat behind it. And in the middle of them all was a massive stone, wider than Eve's outstretched arms and nearly twice as tall as her body. It had no inscriptions or adornments, unlike the other stones. It was simply a large, square piece of grey rock.

As she was examining this monolith, Eve heard the sound of something scraping against tile behind her and turned to see if someone was coming up the stairs. She watched and waited a couple seconds, expecting to see someone emerge from the dimly lit stairwell. When no one appeared, she turned back to the graves only to find a murkrow watching her at eye-level less than a foot away. She tripped backwards in her shock and fell, hitting the ground hard.

The murkrow cawed, her tone so obviously amused that even a human would have been able to see that she was laughing at Eve. ~Scared you, did I? My humblest apologies. You were simply looking at my home so closely that I had to greet you.~

~Your home?~ Eve asked. Her mind was so occupied attempting to figure out where the murkrow had come from that she didn't even think to get up from the ground. _She came from nowhere, and I didn't hear so much as a flutter from her wings. I'd say she's a ghost, but I've yet to meet a gastly that can create an illusion like this. _

~Yes, that big stone there,~ she said, turning her head to look at the giant rectangular stone behind her.

Eve scowled. ~But… How is that your home? Don't murkrow make nests for homes?~

~Oh, nests are overrated,~ she replied.

The scowl on Eve's face faded, but for a good ten seconds she simply stared at the murkrow. Then, finally, she said, ~You're… You're not really a murkrow, are you? But you're not quite an illusion, either.~

The murkrow cawed loudly then swooped down; Eve crossed her arms in front of her and braced herself for impact of the sharp beak and rough wings, but all she got instead was a chilling, goosebump-inducing feeling as the murkrow flew right through her body. She rubbed her arms to warm them back up again as the murkrow swooped back around and landed, this time on the very top of the large stone.

~You're fairly perceptive, for a Not-Human,~ the murkrow chuckled.

Eve ceased rubbing her arms and looked up at the murkrow with awe, wondering just what she was. She certainly couldn't be the pokémon Eve was looking for – for that matter, Eve doubted she was a pokémon at all – and yet Eve felt that somehow that this was, in fact, _exactly_ the pokémon she was looking for. ~Are you by any chance the pokémon of Death?~

~Me? In a sense, yes. I'm simply an extension of her mind and will, reaching out across dimensions in order to meet you,~ the murkrow said. ~I'd meet you in person, except that it's not possible at the moment. You must find a human of Death, first of all, and then you have to discover my true resting place.~

Eve was getting tired of craning her neck up to see the murkrow, and she felt it best to stand so as to show this pokémon the respect she deserved; after all, Eve had no way of knowing if this was perhaps the electric bird that Suicune said had helped Ho-Oh in the killing of the last Not-Human. As soon as she was up off the ground, she said, ~So… This isn't the place I'll be able to summon you at?~

The murkrow flapped her wings, yet again seeming amused. ~Hardly. If that was the case, you could summon me in practically every region of this world. Death is a thing that all peoples of all times respect, and there are many monuments created in my honor; it's mere coincidence that you stumbled upon my favorite place to lurk. Do you want to know why it's my favorite?~

~Do you want to tell me?~ Eve questioned back, feeling slightly like the murkrow's question was a trap of some sort.

The murkrow ruffled her feathers. ~And here I was, thinking that I wouldn't like you. Yes, I do want to tell you, because it has much to do with the reason you're speaking with me in the first place. So if you want to know why it's my favorite, then you first have to look down at the tiles beneath your feet. Do you see those stains?~

Though faded, Eve could definitely make out several large, blotchy reddish-brown stains that pooled out from around her feet; her stomach began to feel queasy as she guessed what exactly would dry quite that color.

~Two humans and several pokémon were murdered here,~ the murkrow explained as Eve continued to look at the ground. ~The bodies were sitting there for days before anyone discovered them, and ever since then the blood has never quite been able to be washed away. Even when the humans foolishly tried to convert this place to something other than what it was meant to be, they never quite made it to this room to renovate, and so the original stained floor has remained.~

The murkrow now hopped down onto a shorter grave so that she once again was at Eve's eye level. ~You know, I've been keeping an eye on you for a while now, little Not-Human. But I stumbled upon you by accident. The only reason that I knew you even existed was because you happened to meet up with the child of those two murdered humans. Ever since her mother brought her to this tower when she was little, I've watched her. She is a human after my own heart, and never before have I known any being quite like her. She is followed by death, but she also deals it out without qualms. She treats death like what it is: an inevitable end, something to be neither feared nor avoided. It is the great nothingness that can never be experienced, for by its very definition it is the end of experience. Does that make sense to you?~

~Well…~

The murkrow cawed before Eve could answer. ~No, it doesn't make sense to you. I know this much. You amuse me, and it is intriguing to watch your reactions to the death and decay that has been all around you these past months. But you do not understand death. You accept it in the sense that you don't lie to yourself about your beloved pikachu's death, but you don't truly accept the death for what it is. And you could not kill someone with your own hands, even if it was to save your very life. It disappoints me; I'm not sure how I'll ever bear to pass on my power to you.~

~But I need to-~

~Yes, I know you must have it, just like the fools before you thought that they had to have it. And I am compelled to give it to you, of course. That is, if you can even find me, and find that human girl so ironically named Hope; she is the only human I'd ever allow you to summon me with. So let me ask you this: do you even have the faintest idea where Death embodied might choose to live?

Eve looked down at the ground, for a moment debating whether or not she dared take a guess. In the end, she decided that it couldn't hurt. ~By any chance… Do you live in a graveyard? Near a spring?~

An unusually raucous series of caws sounded from the crooked beak of the murkrow. ~You intrigue me so! How is it that you found that out? But never mind that. If you know that much, can you name me, young Not-Human?~

~Are you… Giratina?~

Rather than answer, the murkrow spread her wings, and suddenly a her body seemed to dissolve into molted feathers, which in turn fell to the ground and melted into wisps of shadow. These snaked towards Eve and began to flow up her legs, filling her with an feeling of dread and apprehension so great that she couldn't have run even if she'd thought to.

The shadows continued to crawl up her body until they reached her head. For a moment, Eve's vision was completely obscured by the shadows, and a voice rang out through her mind:

_Be careful, little Not-Human. Keep your eyes open and your ears clear. I wonder: for whom does the bell toll this day? This week? This year? If you aren't cautious, then that mournful death knell shall be for thee, little one. Remember that well._

And then the presence was gone, and Eve once again could see the room around her. The illusory murkrow was nowhere in the room. Eve sighed as she tried to calm the dreadful feeling that the shadows had brought upon her. After a minute or so of unsuccessfully trying to chase away the shadows that still seemed to cling to her mind, she decided to head back down the stairs to where all the people were. Though she still felt tense around anyone she didn't know, Eve figured that even that discomfort would be okay, if it would only chase away the irrational fear in her heart.

But right as she stepped onto the floor just below where she had been, she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned only in time to see a man lunge towards her; her reaction time wasn't nearly good enough to avoid the needle he proceeded to jab into her arm. She tried to run, but the man grabbed hold of her arms and held her still as she felt her consciousness quickly slipping away. In her last moments of awareness, she looked around her for help. But by coincidence or by design, no human was on this floor; and if any gastly were around, they apparently weren't in the mood to pop into visibility to help her.

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When Eve awoke, she found herself lying on the cold, hard ground of some dimly lit cave. That was all she could tell at first, her mind being too groggy to quite figure out why she was there or how she had possibly come there. She started to push herself up a little to get a better look at her surroundings, but she practically fell back down to the ground as Blight suddenly floated right into her face.

~I'm sorry, Eve!~ the haunter blubbered, half hysterical with both happiness and remorse. ~I was talking to my friends so long, that I didn't realize what had happened until you were down on the first floor. And all my friends helped me, but a lot of them were weak, and the other trainers in the building fought us because they thought that they were helping you, and-~

"I imagine your haunter isn't making much sense right now," Eve heard Jenna's voice say from somewhere nearby. "She's been quite freaked out for a while now."

~Blight, calm down,~ Eve said as she finally managed to get up and lean against a nearby wall; the movement made her feel rather lightheaded, and so she waited a moment or two before saying, ~I'm fine, really. Just tell me what exactly happened. I remember… There was a man just outside the stairs, and he did something… I bet he was the sound I heard coming from the stairs while I was talking with that murkrow, er, Giratina…~

Jenna turned on another of the many battery-powered lanterns that were illuminating the cave, further brightening the cavern. Guessing Eve's current confusion, she launched into her own telling of events. "After reaching my parents-in-law's house – is that how you say it? I dunno, but Evan's mom and dad is who I'm talking about – anyway, after I got there, I realized that I was being followed. I'd had a bad feeling for a while, but I hadn't quite been able to pin down its cause. I guess he was probably one of Koga's ninjas, otherwise I would've noticed them a lot sooner. I guess he could be from Team Rocket, but they don't excel in stealth from what I've seen.

"So anyway, I beat the guy senseless as soon as I found him, but I realized there was a good chance you might be in trouble if they'd been following me all day. Sure enough, I headed back and there was quite the commotion; trainers battling a whole hoard of ghosts, while some guy was carrying the unconscious you out of the building and towards the parking lot. Needless to say, I beat him so hard that any relatives out to his second cousins probably have bruises. After people realized just who I was, they didn't quite have the guts to accuse me of assault, though one brave guy asked what I was doing beating up that innocent guy and taking you."

She laughed for a moment, as if the memory was exceptionally amusing. Then again, Jenna found everything amusing, as far as Eve could tell. Finally, she continued, "Well, I told them that they were all aiding in a kidnapping. They said that they were just helping a person who claimed that his friend had passed out while upstairs, but they saw their mistake as soon as I found the empty hypodermic needle in his bag. It must have been some pretty strong tranquilizer for someone your size, 'cause you've been out for a while. So yeah, anyway, the police arrived and I told 'em that if they tried hard enough, they could probably prove that the kidnappers were agents of the Old Johto's government attempting a kidnapping of a deserter within Kanto jurisdiction." Jenna grinned at this. "I bet the Kanto government isn't gonna be too happy about that. The police wanted to question me and you – once you woke up, of course – but I said no, and took you out here where we hopefully won't be disturbed. It's my secret getaway on the mountainside above Rock Tunnel."

Eve smiled and mouthed the word, 'thanks,' wishing more than usual that she could talk normally. Regardless of who the kidnapper really was, Eve knew that she would've been in big trouble had Jenna not been around to help, and she wished that she could fully express her gratitude.

"Don't mention it," Jenna said. "I probably wouldn't have bothered, but as I said before, I wanna see how you can change the world. Speaking of which… You know, Mark's really worried about you. After you left the Pokémon League but before I ditched, he was talking to me about this little quest of yours. Seeing how you've acted around humans lately, he's convinced himself that all humanity might be in danger. Not right now, of course. But he's worried that if you met another pokémon like Entei at the moment, you could be convinced to at least tilt the balance of power in favor of pokémon."

~But Eve wouldn't do that! Would you, Eve?~ Blight said.

Eve shook her head. ~Of course not! I'm annoyed that he'd even think of such a thing. If I did balance things out, I would just bring things back sorta to how Celebi said they used to be, before humans entirely dominated.~

Jenna laughed. "The expression on your face is priceless, Eve! In reality, though, Mark's just jealous that you put all your trust in pokémon, and little trust in him. He loves you enough that it's flawed his logic slightly. Deep down, he knows you wouldn't hurt a caterpie. I mean, you wouldn't even let that guy who nearly kidnapped you at Indigo Plateau be put to death! I've gotta say, that surprised me when I heard about it. I woulda killed the guy with my own two hands, had it been me. But anyway, you learn anything at Pokémon Tower?"

Eve nodded.

"So you know where to go next?"

Eve nodded again, but quickly pulled out some paper and a pen from her hip pouch. After a couple of minutes of writing, she handed the paper over and Jenna skimmed over what was written.

After she had finished reading, she looked up at Eve. "So Mespirit was right? In that case, you'll need to be heading over to Sinnoh. You've got a passport from our last trip there, so it shouldn't be a problem; I'll hook you up with a ticket before I head back to Indigo Plateau. But you'll need to find Hope, too… Well, she's been battling just as much as any other trainer on Team Rocket's side. I'm sure I can arrange for Lance to put a special effort into capturing her. I'll tell him that you'll come back if he does. Getting her out of Indigo Plateau will be a little tougher, but I'll give it a try. If anything, you can always look for the last two legends while you wait for the war to end and Hope to get released. That sound good?"

_Sounds amazing, actually. _Eve thought to herself as she nodded. _I'm not sure how I'd be able to manage this otherwise. Jenna might be violent and crazy half the time, but for some reason, I still like her. And I've gotta admit, it's nice to have a powerful friend who can and will do pretty much whatever she feels like._

"All right, the only thing that I ask in return is that you keep me filled in on what's happening," Jenna said. "This is the most interesting thing I've been involved in since defeating that idiotic Team Galactic so many years ago. Oh, but I do actually have one more request. Since Ho-Oh was nothing more than a gigantic stubborn featherhead, would you mind asking the Life pokémon if it can do anything for me, if you find it? Either that, or wipe out all of Palkia's effects from my body when you start your new world order or whatever. Deal?" Jenna held out her hand expectantly.

Without hesitation, Eve reached out and shook the extended hand.

_Deal._

* * *

So for those of you who haven't read my other two pokémon short stories, Jenna referenced them a bit in this. You don't have to read them or anything; they're just the stories that Jenna, Evan, and even Hope were introduced in. The first one was written a long time ago, and the other one I wrote sort of as a prelude to this, since I knew I'd be tying in parts of it to this storyline. For those of you who have read it, though, don't put too much stock in every single thing that happened in it as it relates to this; I've had some changes of ideas since then.

In other news, I just figured out that I have officially been working on this fanfic for over a year now! I started my original outline on the second of June of last year, and I began writing the first chapter on the sixteenth of that same month. Its first birthday on isn't until August, though, since I waited a while before choosing to post the story.

Also, just wanted to let Navybro (whom I can't message, since you're leaving anonymous reviews) know that yes, I've read the manga and know who you're talking about. No, he's not going to be a Not-Human in this fanfic. Though I do reference the manga in several instances (i.e. referencing Yellow as a legend), most everything is quite a bit different from the manga. Thanks for mentioning it, though! ^_^

Thanks to all of you who are reading/reviewing! As always, I hope you continue to enjoy the story!


	46. Draconic Strength

**Chapter Forty-Six: Draconic Strength**

~Eve, we've been at this for nearly three weeks now,~ Thistle said as she flew through the sky with Eve on her back. ~Are you sure this lake is anywhere?~

Eve clung close to the aerodactyl's back as she tried to stay warm. ~Yeah, I'm certain. If it's a Sinnoh myth, then it has to be here in Sinnoh somewhere. But if you're getting tired of flying, I can always continue the search with Aiden. Maybe we'll see something on the ground that we couldn't see from up here.~

~I'm fine,~ Thistle insisted. ~But are you sure it wasn't in that mountain range or something? I just can't imagine we've passed over any big lake, considering how much we've been flying.~

~We wandered around for days in there and couldn't find anything.I'm pretty sure I would've sensed at least _something _if that was the right place. Plus, Blight could pass through any walls, so we thoroughly checked much of the range. No, the lake's gotta be somewhere else. Maybe I should go to a library or something… As unlikely as it is, maybe there'd be some info there that Cynthia didn't know.~

~Well, I think we might want to take shelter for now. The clouds are getting dark fast… Seems like it's going to storm.~

Eve looked up incredulously, not quite believing Thistle. She would have sworn that just a minute ago, the day had been sunny and the clouds had been perfectly fluffy and benign. But before her very eyes Eve saw the clouds swell up and darken the sky for some ways around them.

As she continued to watch the clouds warily, she said, ~Yes, hurry and land somewhere – anywhere. Now. There's a strong pokémon somewhere causing the storm, or something. There's no way this storm is natural.~

Thistle heeded her trainer's orders and began to descend just as the wind picked up and the rain began to pour; the sudden change in weather nearly knocked Thistle off balance, since she was inexperienced when it came to flying in inclement weather. Eve was forced to hold on for dear life as the ancient pokémon was tossed back and forth by the blustery winds.

The actual landing was even less pleasant than the windy descent. Old trees spread out beneath Thistle as far as either her or her trainer's eyes could see in the downpour, meaning that Thistle was forced to close her wings and essentially crash through the canopy in order to get to the ground without breaking her wings. The result left the both of them rather scratched up by the branches and shaken from the hard impact.

~That was troublesome,~ Eve said with a frown as she dismounted. ~Thistle, are you alright?~

~Yeah, nothing feels broken. I might be a bit bruised. But hey, could we find some place a bit more out of the rain? The trees help, but…~ The aerodactyl shook her body instinctually, shaking off the excess rainwater that had accumulated on her hide; but in the process, she hit a nearby tree with her tail, causing a shower of big, wet droplets to render her efforts useless.

Eve pulled out Thistle's pokéball. ~Why don't you just go in your pokéball for now, until whatever pokémon is doing this calms down and we can be on our way? I'll have Pebble and Hannah help me find someplace drier to stay. Sound good?~ Thistle made no protest to this arrangement; she absolutely hated being wet, and that coupled with her new cuts and bruises made her pokéball sound like a very pleasant refuge.

After the aerodactyl was in her pokéball – but before Eve had quite gotten to letting out Pebble and Hannah – Eve took a moment to take in the scenery around her. The trees towered above her, their trunks so wide that they were like marble pillars and foliage so thick that despite the wind, the leaves seemed to be a solid green roof far above her head. The cacophony of water droplets only added to the awe-inspiring effect. In Eve's mind, they sounded like some strange variety of music, at once both calming and energizing.

_But behind it all… There's something. It's not just how ancient the forest is, or how beautiful the trees are. I can sense it. I think…_

Eve quickly released Hannah and Pebble, since they both enjoyed being out in the rain. Eve explained to them what had happened to her and Thistle, then went on to say, ~But I think it's perfect that we ended up here, because I think we somehow landed close to exactly what we've been looking for. Will you guys help me keep an eye out for it?~

~Of course,~ Pebble said. ~But which way are we going?~

Eve thought for a moment. ~This way, I think,~ she said as she started walking.

~But Eve, shouldn't we find you some place to keep dry?~ Hannah asked as she and Pebble began to follow. ~You'll catch a cold or something if you don't dry off, won't you?~

~I'm already soaked through. A little more rain won't hurt me now. Besides, can't you hear that the rain is already lessening? It'll be nice and sunny again before you know it.~

~If you're sure…~ Hannah said.

Eve skipped ahead a little bit. ~'Course I'm sure. Now come on – you both are moving slower than slowpokes. Hurry it up! Now that we're moving, I'm almost positive it's this way!~ She playfully began to jog ahead, looking over her shoulder frequently to see if Hannah and Pebble were speeding up.

~Wait, Eve!~ Hannah said, quickening her pace to a fast trot. ~Watch out, or you'll-~

The bayleef cringed as Eve finally turned her head around and found herself face-to-bark with a tree that she hadn't quite seen while looking back and forth from her course to her companions. She hit the tree hard, then fell to the ground as stars appeared before her eyes.

~Eve, that's what I was trying to warn you about!~ Hannah said when she caught up; a spicy scent drifted from her leaves, showing her anxiety. ~Are you alright?~

Eve smiled and stood back up. ~Yeah, I just wasn't expecting it. I'm not hurt or anything.~

~You know, you're quite enthusiastic right now,~ Pebble commented. ~Any particular reason why?~

Eve shrugged as she began to walk once again, this time going at a more manageable pace. ~Guess I just like rainy days. It'd be a little bit scarier if we were out in the thick of that storm just now, but down here… The forest is just so beautiful. It makes me realize even more just how caged in I was as a human.~

~As a human?~ Pebble asked.

~I didn't really mean it that way,~ Eve said as she frowned a little, realizing what she had just said. ~But you know, while I was with humans, I felt caged… And now that I'm out here, I guess I associate myself more with pokémon than with humans, since there are so many of them around.~ And there were, in truth, many different kinds of pokémon all around, though they ignored Eve and her pokémon for the most part. The pokémon here were completely isolated from people, and so they really didn't have much to hide from. Bugs swarmed all over, making webs between trees or flying from branch to branch; birds large and small swooped gracefully about, some for play and some while hunting for their next meal; and all sorts of grass types shambled around in the leaf litter, enjoying the drizzle that dripped down from the leaves high above their heads.

~And plus, you can feel it too, right? The energy?~ Eve continued in response to Pebble's original question. ~It's just like at Bell Tower and Burned Tower. It's kinda ominous like it was at both of those places, but it energizes me at the same time. And after all this time looking, it's so exciting that we're finally this close. In fact, I think that's gotta be it!~

She rushed forward once again, this time towards a solid wall of rock that seemed to rise straight up out of the mostly flatland forest. They weren't very far away by the time Eve spied it; the rain mixed with the natural gloom of the forest had made it difficult to see.

~You know, even if someone travelled through this forest, they'd have to be awfully lucky to find this place,~ Eve said as she made it to the mountainside and looked up. ~If you're on ground level, then the trees completely hide it from view, and there are no rises for miles that would indicate that something like this is here.~

~So is the mountain itself the place you're looking for?~ Pebble asked.

Eve shook her head. ~I don't think so. Maybe it's inside the mountain… We're pretty sure that there's a lake and a graveyard involved, after all, so maybe they're inside. If we've got the right legend, that is. Here, Pebble, let me return you to your pokéball really quick. Hannah, use your vines to help us up the mountainside; even though it's wet, it's rocky enough that we should be able to find plenty of foot holds.~

Though Eve was right about the footing, it still took her and Hannah over twenty minutes to make it up the small mountain. Neither of them had really any experience scaling rocky slopes, and the wetness forced them to move cautiously. However, when they finally reached the top, they realized that the mountain wasn't nearly what they'd thought it was.

~It's like… A giant volcano, or something. But with a lake in it,~ Eve said as she walked over to the inner edge of the caldera and looked over the edge. Before Hannah could respond, Eve felt the edge give way beneath her, and she found herself tumbling down towards the rather small lake.

~Eve!~ Hannah shouted, reaching out her vines too late to catch her trainer. After a moment's hesitation, she went over to the edge and began sliding down the inner slope after her falling trainer, using her relatively stocky body to her advantage as she maintained her balance.

Thankfully for both of them, the inside of the volcano was much less steep than the veritable cliffs of the outside. The lake itself also made the fall not nearly as bad as it might have been. When Eve hit the water, she was so disoriented from the tumbling that all she could do was hold her breath as she sank into the deep waters.

Hannah managed to stop herself before falling in the water herself; there was no shore and Hannah couldn't swim, so she did the only thing she could think of. She held onto a prominent rock with two vines so as to anchor herself to the firm wall of the crater, then began fishing with her other vines until one of them happened to brush up against Eve and pull her back up.

Eve coughed and spat out water as soon as she reached the surface. Hannah immediately began to lecture, ~Eve, you have to be more careful! First you run into a tree, and now you fall who knows how far and practically drown yourself! Sheesh! You're alright, right?~

~Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just even more wet and bruised and scratched than I was when Thistle had to do that emergency landing,~ she replied, struggling to recover her breath. ~Sorry to worry you. But hey, we're here! And look over there – I think I see what we're looking for!~

The rain had dwindled to little more than a light sprinkle, so it wasn't too hard for Eve to see that the slightest of shores existed along part of the opposite side of the volcano-lake. And right in the center of that thin stretch of land, the entrance of a cave sat in the mountainside. To be honest, it could barely be called the mouth of a cave. It was more like a small gash had been ripped in the rock by a force both extremely violent and strangely precise.

~Hurry up and get Pebble out, or something,~ Hannah said. ~I don't care what you see over there, my vines are getting tired and I don't like being this close to deep water. I'll sink like a stone.~

~All right, all right,~ Eve said, drawing her attention away from the ominous yet exciting darkness of the grotto. She swam back to the edge, found the slightest of ledges that she could prop herself up on, then returned Hannah and withdrew Pebble. ~Okay, Pebble. Mind swimming me that way? I want to check out the cave.~

He moved his head so that she could get a firm grip on his ears/fins (Eve had never asked what they were supposed to be), and together they made their way across the calm water and over to the shore.

~Eve, are you sure this is a good idea?~ Pebble asked as Eve climbed out of the water and he slithered after her. ~I mean, just look around. At the rim of the mountain, there's a bridge that breaks off partway over the lake; and there's fog coming from the cave. I'm not a superstitious pokémon, but this place seems creepy. I can't help but think that we'd better come back later, when we know we'll be able to get something done.~

Eve grinned. ~Surely you're not scared, are you? You're the one pokémon who I thought was the most level-headed, at least of all you five.~

~No, it's not that… I just feel jumpy for some reason. Maybe it's the energy in the atmosphere of this place. And that storm out of nowhere…~

~It was probably just a poliwrath nearby getting angry, or something. They can stir up some mighty storms, at least for a bit.~

~Mighty enough to ground Thistle? And storms so large that they cover such a huge area?~ Pebble asked. ~I don't deny that it was a pokémon. I simply don't much believe in pure coincidence, that we just happened to end up here due to a storm that just happened to be started by a pokémon right as we were going by.~

Eve sighed slightly. ~You may have a point… But still, I want to at least check out the inside of here. Let's go.~

They stepped inside and found themselves in a large cavern that Eve was quite sure couldn't possibly exist. Though it was difficult for them to see exactly how big the cave was due to the fog, Eve guessed that it had to extend farther in front of her than the actual thickness of the mountain's sides. Large rocks were scattered about on the floor, as if they had been carelessly dropped by some giant using them as playthings.

~This is strange,~ Eve said, voicing her observations. ~Isn't this place bigger-~

~-than the space it should fit into? Yes, I noticed it, too,~ Pebble said. ~This doesn't seem like much of a graveyard, though I still think this is the place of the Giratina you were talking about. You said that murkrow mentioned that she was just an extension of Giratina, who was actually residing in another dimension, correct?~

~Yeah,~ Eve said as she cautiously began to move along the wall of the cave; through the fog, she could just barely see an entrance to some other room on her right, and she at least wanted to peek into it.

Pebble slithered along behind her. Despite his bulk, he seemed to be little more than one of the wisps of mist that snaked away from Eve as she parted the dank air. ~I doubt we've entered her dimension, but if this is where we are to summon her, then perhaps her connection to this place has distorted the dimensions here.~

Eve nodded, guessing that Pebble was right. Then, as they entered the next room of the caverns, she said, ~This room looks a lot like the one before it. But the stones are all lined up in diagonals… But hey, I can see more entrances here; I bet the first room had more than I noticed at first. Counting where we just came out of, I can see four total, each in the center of it's wall. Let's head to that one to the left, then head back. I'm afraid we'll get lost if we go too far into this place.~

They walked slowly to the next room, Eve being careful not to trip over any loose stones that the fog partially obscured. When they reached it, they found themselves in a room that looked practically the same as the room they had originally entered.

~Pebble, you don't suppose all these stones might be grave markers, do you? I mean, they don't look quite like that, but they're all so uniform…~

The dratini slithered up to the nearest boulder. ~I think that's a good guess, though no one could actually be buried in rock. Perhaps they're memorials, such as the things you mentioned seeing in that human-made Pokémon Tower. But that hardly matters. Let's head back out. Until we have Hope with us, we won't be able to accomplish anything here.~

Eve agreed and went back out through the hole in the wall just behind her, only to find herself in a room other than what should have been there. ~Pebble? This isn't right, is it?~

~It looks like the entrance room. See? There's light coming from that opening in the wall. That must be where we came in from.~

~But we went to another room in between that last room and this room, didn't we? The one with the rocks lined up in diagonals?~

Heedless of Eve's confusion, Pebble began to slither over to the lit exit. ~Yes, but if this cave really is connected to a different dimension, then anything could happen. How have we even been able to see? It ought to have been pitch black in the other rooms of the cave. This place is unique; I don't think we need to dwell on the particulars of it much.~

~I suppose you're right,~ Eve said as she followed Pebble back out to the lake. ~At least it's nice and sunny out here now. No mysteries behind the lake itself, it would seem.~

Pebble instinctually slipped into the calm water. ~You're still completely soaked, Eve. You should probably bring out Aiden; his body heat will be enough to dry you off quickly, before you start flying again. Speaking of which, what do you plan to do now that you've found Giratina's place of summoning?~

~I was thinking that maybe we could-~ Eve broke off as a large shadow passed over her. She looked up right as a dragonair floated towards the rim of the rocky wall, stopped in midair, and allowed the human on its back to boldly jump off of it and onto the unstable-looking bridge that extended partway over the lake.

But this wasn't just any dragonair, nor was its trainer just any human.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, you worthless brat!" Clair shouted down from her vantage point, her loud, demanding voice making its way clearly down to Eve. The dragon-type specialist was immediately recognizable by her bright blue hair and ridiculous outfit, complete with cape. She continued, "Even when we FINALLY saw you flying around here, we had to start a whole storm just to make you land so we could catch up! Lance wants you back at the Pokémon League, but more importantly, you haven't been deemed worthy to train a dragon type like that dratini! I don't know why my cousin never saw it fit to test you during all the time you were still on our side, and he never would let me do it, either! So fight me now, your dratini versus my dragonair! We'll see if you're worthy enough to train a sacred pokémon! Either that, or give up your dratini here and now!"

Pebble floated over to Eve. ~What's she talking about, exactly? Sacred pokémon?~

~I don't know much, but it has something to do with the religion that Lance and Clair are both members of…~ Eve said quickly, not exactly expecting Clair to be the most patient of people when waiting for an answer. ~It's very exclusive, and more like a cult than anything. They think that dragons are sacred beings, and that only humans who are raised with the strength to train them should be allowed to have them. But this is completely unfair… She's a gym leader. There's no way we can beat her if she's going at full power.~

Pebble swam farther into the water while looking up at the expectant dragonair. ~You'd be surprised. I can tell that dragonair is a bit arrogant… Probably comes from being called 'sacred' all the time. Her battling will probably be strong but sloppy. And we've got a few tricks up our sleeves, whether you realize it or not. After all, I can understand you without words. I could probably even know your commands while underwater, while that dragonair doesn't have the same luxury. Let's give the battle a try. After all, we don't have much other choice.~

A slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. ~All right, but we're not letting them have the first hit. Dragonbreath, then dive underwater!~

Clair and her dragonair had no chance to react to the sudden burst of bluish-purple flame that was sent flying towards them; the dragonair was hit just below her head, and she fell in the air a little before recovering from the effective hit.

"Dive after the dratini and use aqua tail!" Clair said.

~Hide yourself in the mud if you can, and use substitute to draw the dragonair into a vulnerable position!~ Eve countered as the dragonair entered the lake. Eve could only hope that Pebble could move fast enough to make the trick work.

A couple of seconds later, an almost exact replica of Pebble rose to the surface and began swimming off in one direction. The only way that Eve was able to tell that it wasn't the real deal was that this substitute seemed rather lifeless despite its movement.

The dragonair apparently saw it, or else heard her trainer shouting, "There it is! Get it! Use dragon rush!" The little faux dratini suddenly shot into the air, propelled from beneath by the dragonair's momentum. She was cloaked in an aura of exactly the same shade of purple as Pebble's dragonbreath attack. However, both the dragonair and Clair quickly realized something was wrong when the dratini stabbed on the dragonair's horn seemed to deflate as its imbued energy dissipated, leaving nothing more than the shed skin of Pebble caught on the dragonair's head.

~Now, ice beam!~

Pebble surfaced literally a couple feet away from Eve; his hiding place must have been just below the surface near her. Then, while Clair and the dragonair were still dumbstruck by the substitute, Pebble hit the dragonair full on with his ice beam attack, which was one of the many techniques he had mastered while Eve and all her pokémon had been training with Jenna. Eve watched as Pebble carefully aimed his ice beam so as to hit as much of the serpentine body as possible; the surprise of the attack meant that the dragonair was too stunned to get avoid the attack, even as it continued. The dragonair soon became so covered in ice that she temporarily stopped her pained convulsions and dropped through the air.

~You're getting better at battling, Eve,~ Pebble commented as the serpent hit the water and began floating on the surface. The only way that Eve could tell that she wasn't knocked out yet was by noticing the subdued movements of her body as she struggled to break free of her icy bonds.

~Guess my own training with Jenna actually worked,~ Eve said. She hadn't had much time for any one-on-one battles during the war, and so this was practically her first time trying it since practicing strategy and quick reactions with Jenna way back when. ~Now Pebble, duck out of sight and dragon dance for as long as Dragonair stays frozen. We're doing well, but we need more firepower if we ever want to finish this game of cat and mouse.~

Clair was practically stomping her feet in agitation, which seemed a very unsafe thing to do considering that she was at the edge of that broken-down old bridge. "Quit hiding from us and fight us face-to-face, like a true dragon! And you, Eve – you're not even giving your dragon commands! How can you possibly deserve his respect when you do nothing to help him in battle!"

_I'm helping Pebble more than you're helping Dragonair, _Eve thought, rather satisfied. She watched the dragonair closely on the surface as she started to warm up and twist her body, breaking off the chunks of ice that clung to her.

~Pebble, she'll be moving freely in another moment. Use twister in the water – get her caught up in a whirlpool.~

The water around the dragonair began to swirl and glow with the slightest of dragonish auras, and in moments she was being swept up in a whirlpool. It was no massive disturbance in the water, though, and it was just barely big enough to even keep the massive dragonair within its swirling maw.

"Dragonair, I've had it! Outrage! Show these blasphemers what it means to treat dragons lightly!"

The blue-purple dragon aura surrounded the dragonair, and in her sudden rage she somehow managed to maneuver herself and dive towards the bottom of the whirlpool. The water quickly calmed, and Eve assumed the worst.

~Pebble!~ she said, panicked. ~Are you alright?~

~I'm fine, but I'm not sure how many more hits of that nature I could take,~ he replied from somewhere beneath the agitated surface of the lake. ~But I'm barely able to evade her. I-~

He broke off, and Eve guessed that he'd taken another hit. Beneath the waves, she could see the faint glow of the dragonair's long body thrashing back and forth in search of its prey. ~Substitute again, and try to hide while she's distracted! You've got to hold out until this attack fades. Surely Dragonair will be exhausted then, judging by how much force she's using now.~

Eve waited nervously for ten seconds… twenty seconds… The luminous thrashing continued, and she heard nothing from her dratini. Eventually, the waiting grew to be too much. ~Pebble?~ she called out nervously.

~Right here!~ Pebble said as he surfaced just in front of Eve, causing her to jump. ~She destroyed my substitute, but now she seems so enraged that she doesn't know what she's doing… She's probably only a couple decades old, to be as silly as that. Or maybe her trainer has rubbed off on her too much. Anyway, I'm going to need a bit more strength to beat her.~ He slithered up to Eve and coiled around her legs as he said this. ~Lend me just a bit of your power, won't you?~

His body began to glow with a white light, and his already long body grew… and grew… and grew. The little dot of matter on his forehead for which he had been named seemed to sprout out from his head, sharpening as it did so; and the fins on the sides of his head became more feathery and elegant, so as to match the rest of his quickly-changing appearance.

When the changes stopped, Eve found herself surrounded by the coils of a beautiful blue dragonair that she guessed was at least twenty-five feet in length, which was considerably longer than the maybe eighteen-foot dragon still writhing in the depths.

~Now that I have a way to compare, I can only conclude that she's barely half my age,~ Pebble said, his head rising majestically into the air above Eve. ~Good to know. Now I feel justified in calling her a spoiled brat.~

The dragonair suddenly burst from the water into the air, her stint of confusion apparently ended. ~What did you just say, you ill-trained weakling?~ she said indignantly.

~I called you a brat,~ Pebble said as he gazed calmly at the angered dragonair. ~And I doubt _I'm _the one who's ill-trained. After all, I've only been hit by a couple of your desperate attacks. Up until now, your trainer must have simply been relying on your innate power as a dragon in order to win battles over the years. At the very least, she is completely inept when battling opponents such as Eve and I.~

While Pebble was taunting the dragonair, Eve was watching Clair anxiously. Even at the distance Eve was from Clair, she could tell that the dragon tamer's face was bright red; she looked more outraged than even her dragonair, and she hadn't even heard what had been said be Pebble. "Dragonair, we are not losing to that upstart! Dragon pulse!"

The dragonair opened her mouth, and a huge amount of energy suddenly accumulated there. Pebble might have dodged if not for the fact that doing so would have left Eve completely unprotected from the hastily ordered attack. Eve watched in horror as the energy suddenly shot out towards them, but – to her amazement – a wall of mostly transparent energy suddenly sprung up just in front of the two targets, completely nullifying the attack.

~Since when have you known protect?~ Eve asked, stunned so much that even this simple question barely made it to Pebble. She didn't like to think about what might have happened to her fragile human body if Pebble hadn't defended so quickly.

Pebble uncoiled himself and rose into the air until he was at the same level as Clair's dragonair. ~I suppose I must've picked it up while everyone was learning techniques from Jenna's pokémon. Either that, or it's just instinct when there's someone who needs to be protected. So Eve, what's your next command?~

Eve quickly got over her shock, knowing that Clair would declare another attack any moment now. ~Thunderbolt. Let's see if we can limit her movements again by paralyzing her.~

Electricity gathered along his dainty but sharp horn, and this he loosed at the dragonair. Clair ordered her dragonair to dodge, but like many electric attacks, it was nearly impossible for it to miss its target. The dragonair easily shook off the shock, though, and at Clair's command proceeded to use dragon rush once again.

Pebble easily dodged out of the way, then shot off another ice beam when Eve commanded it. However, this attack wasn't nearly so accurate when he didn't have the advantage of surprise; the dragonair was only grazed by the chilling attack.

"That's it! I've had it! Hyper beam, dragonair!"

Eve paled. She'd seen the destruction that hyper beams could do, and she didn't want Pebble to be hit by such an attack. ~Protect!~

The wall of energy appeared just in time, blocking most of the immense beam of light and keeping it from hitting Pebble. Though most of it disappeared upon hitting the barrier, some of it was deflected around the protect, causing the blast to hit the rock walls around them and begin several small rockslides.

To Eve's relief, the recoil from that powerful attack seemed too much for Clair's dragonair to bear; she slowly sunk in the air as she attempted to regain her energy.

~Now, Pebble – get in close and use ice beam!~

Clair's dragonair watched in helpless horror as Pebble flew up to her and aimed his horn at the thickest part of her body. A bluish-white energy accumulated at the horn's tip, and this energy in turn blasted out at the dragonair's body, wholly freezing that part of her. She fell to the surface of the water once again, and there she floated, her body completely limp.

"No no no!" Clair shouted out as she returned that dragonair to her pokéball and quickly called out another one. "I won't accept you as a dragon tamer! You didn't even give any orders to your dragon during the battle! You are unworthy to possess even a dratini, nonetheless a dragonair! And regardless of the results of the battle, I'm taking you back with me! Lance needs you back in the war!"

Eve looked at Clair's new dragonair warily. ~This is bad… You did marvelously in the battle, Pebble, but I can tell that outrage attack took its toll. And who knows how many other powerful pokémon she has with her? Even if it's just the standard six, I only have five, none of which are truly up to her power level…~

~I'll do my best, regardless of damage,~ Pebble assured her. ~We pulled it off with the first dragonair; we can do it again.~

Eve was about to respond to say that they needed to figure out some way to get away from Clair and escape, when suddenly the entire surface of the lake began to ripple as if some massive tremor was shaking the land.

She looked all around, trying to figure out just what was going on; Clair was doing more or less the same thing. ~You don't think that the loose hyper beams could've made the walls unstable, do you?~

~No, it's something else,~ Pebble said certainly as he floated down to Eve. ~Jump on and grab onto the feathers. We may need to make a quick escape, depending on what's coming.~

Eve scrambled onto Pebble's back just behind his head right as a large reptilian figure burst from the center of the lake, roaring with rage. Eve recognized it as a dragonite. She'd seen at least two under Lance's command before, but neither of them had been quite this size. While Lance's were probably about ten feet when standing on firm ground, Eve guessed that this one was at least fifteen feet tall, and most surely much more massive and powerful than either of the dragonair present.

It faced down Clair's dragonair. ~Take your trainer and leave this lake! This human has shown her worth, and you have no right to take a superior dragon tamer anywhere!~

The dragonair quickly obeyed, landing next to her trainer and extending her neck for Clair to jump on. Clair looked at the dragonite in awe for a moment as the giant dragon stared her down. Then she jumped onto the dragonair's neck and allowed the blue serpent to fly away with her; only a passing glare back towards Eve showed her discontentment with the situation. Clair would never have left her prey behind, of couse, but she had practically been bred to respect dragon-type pokémon. And dragonite obviously were held the most worthy of honor in her mind. Though she was strong enough to be a gym leader and had been training her dragonair for years, she had never been able to reach the level of power necessary for them to evolve, making dragonite a near godlike pokémon in her mind.

As soon as the Clair and her dragonair were gone, the dragonite flew over to Eve and Pebble and landed in the water just in front of them. The menacing attitude was gone; the massive dragon now seemed absolutely cheery.

~Hi hi! Did you miss me?~ the dragonite asked; Eve realized that it was a girl.

Eve looked at Pebble. ~Do you know her?~

~No,~ Pebble said, relaxing as he realized that this dragonite was probably not their enemy. ~Mind telling us who you are?~

~Oh, I'm still transformed, aren't I?~ The dragonite turned to goo and seemed to melt down until it was an easily recognizable pink blob.

Eve smiled and jumped down from Pebble's neck. ~You're that ditto from before that we met while we were sheltering from the storm! Nice to see you again! But, if I may ask, what exactly are you doing here?~

~Just visiting an old friend who lives nearby. I was taking a nice little swim when all your ruckus started. I thought I'd help out when I heard that sore loser being so silly,~ the ditto replied. ~But fancy meeting you here! What's going on with you since I saw you last?~

~We've made some progress with that myth you talked to us about,~ Eve replied. Now that Clair was gone, all her previous anxiety had completely disappeared. ~I can summon one of the legendary pokémon in this cave here. But I still need to find someone to help me summon her. So for the moment… Well, I guess I'm kinda stuck.~

~Do you know where you want to go next? I might be able to help out. You're quite interesting, after all, and I can't help but think that the coincidence that we met each other here means that I ought to at least have the courtesy to offer my assistance.~

Eve looked at the ditto curiously. ~And how exactly do you hope to help out? To be honest, I was kind of thinking about heading back to Johto as secretly as possible… I can't help but think that Sprout Tower might be a place that I'm looking for. It certainly felt energized when I went there the first time. I didn't know anything about the legend when I went there that first time, though, so I didn't think much of it. I need to go back there again to see if I feel the same way I feel here, or at the two towers of Ecruteak.~

Ditto suddenly grew into that massive dragonite once again. ~How can I help? My dear Not-Human, dragonite can circle the world in under a day! I can easily get you there, and you won't have to deal with any of those human flying contraptions. I'm supposing that's how you got here in the first place? I didn't see any flying pokémon with you when I met you last.~

~Well, I do have an aerodactyl, but she wouldn't be able to manage a flight across the ocean,~ Eve said. ~But would you really help me all the way to Johto?~

~Of course, of course! What are friends for?~ the ditto-dragonite said. Then she raised her head and met Pebble's inquisitive gaze. During all this time, Pebble hadn't taken his eyes off of the ditto. ~Yes, is there a problem?~ she asked.

Pebble tilted his head, as if to look at the dragonite from another angle. ~You still seem strange. For a ditto, even. I still can't believe you can transform by memory.~

The dragonite smiled, which looked rather goofy considering she was a pokémon, not a human. ~As I said, I'm one special ditto! So anyway, Eve, what about it? We could head out right now, and I bet we could get back there before evening. After all, the land where I met you is just south of here. Not at all difficult to get to.~

Eve looked up to see if Pebble had any worries about this; he certainly seemed wary of the ditto. However, he assured her he was fine with the plan. He had no problems with the ditto's goodwill, despite his suspicious curiosity in the ditto's unique ability.

~All right, then,~ the ditto said once the matter was decided. ~You might want to find some vines or something to strap yourself on with. It's going to be one fast ride, that's for sure!~

* * *

So I actually did enjoy writing the battle for this chapter. Maybe that's just because dratini and dragonair are two of my all time favorite pokémon. And I wasn't planning on having the ditto come back, but in the end I just sorta liked the character too much to make her disappear completely.

And I'm having the hardest time attempting to figure out a new pokémon for Eve, so that she can have the customary six... I may not give her anything else. No matter what idea I toy with for a new pokémon, it just doesn't seem to fit. When I started planning this fic, one of the first things I did was make Eve's team, and I wasn't originally planning on having anyone die...

Anyway, thanks for reading!


	47. Healing

**Chapter Forty-Seven: Healing**

~This is where we part ways for now,~ the ditto-dragonite said as she suddenly slowed and descended, waking Eve up from her dazed state. They had been flying for some hours now, and the constant chill of the high altitude air had practically frozen her joints and muscles. ~But hey, I bet it's not the last time we see each other. I get around well enough, and you seem to, too. No doubt we'll run into each other again soon!~

The ditto landed, and Eve stiffly slid off of her back. ~Thanks for flying me all the way here,~ she said as she tried to keep her legs from collapsing beneath her. Beyond her mere stiffness, however, she felt something else. It was more an emotion than a physical sensation, but it overrode her soreness and filled her with an energy born of something she had never wanted to feel again. Eve looked around for the first time, and saw in the twilight a lake stretching off into the distance. Even in the semi-darkness, there was no mistaking its identity. ~But why drop me off here? I can't stand the Lake of Rage…~

The dragonite tilted her head curiously. ~Why's that?~

~I, um… Well, the feeling it brings into me is horrible. And the last time I was here, I…~

~Yes?~

Eve sighed and sat on the ground, hating the fact that she had to remember that terrible, stormy evening. ~I killed. Or I enabled some gyarados to kill. A lot of pokémon and humans died.~

~You can't run from something like that forever, now, can you?~ The ditto-dragonite said. ~I haven't known you for that long, but I bet a lot of bad stuff has happened to you in the past. And maybe this isn't the only bad thing you've done to those around you, either. But you've gotta accept it either way, and move on.~

~You're awfully philosophical all of a sudden,~ Eve commented lightly, though inwardly she was really thinking on the ditto's words.

The dragonite's antennae twitched, and a great booming noise came from her mouth that sounded remarkable like a human laugh. ~Guess even I have my moments,~ the ditto said, amused at herself. ~But I guess what I'm really wanting to say is that I'd love to hear your voice sometime, and that I want you to deal with whatever happened to you so that you can make that happen. And I bet you'll be able to do that here, so I expect you to talk like any other human the next time we cross paths. Until then, see ya!~

The ditto-dragonite took off before Eve had a chance to ask exactly what she had meant by saying that she'd be able to take care of her problem here.

_Maybe she means that enough time has passed to heal my mental wounds? I haven't even tried to talk regularly in weeks. What if now…_

She opened her mouth and tried to filter air through her vocal chords so as to produce some recognizable sound. But no sound came. All around her, and eerie quiet pervaded the air; and just beneath that quiet, an almost-sound seemed to constantly ring in Eve's mind and resound in her soul. It was that feeling of rage that she remembered engulfing her the last time she had been here, that sensation that seemed such an innate aspect of this place.

Eve tried to calm herself and push away the rage as she gazed at the reflection of the full moon on the lake's deceptively placid surface. But so much more had happened to her since the last time she had been there that the rage seemed more overbearing than ever. She had so much more to be angry about. Her sorrow, pain, hatred – in the presence of this lake, they were almost too much for Eve's usually peaceful self to bear. She shut her eyes, trying desperately to block out the lake and everything it embodied.

She wasn't quite sure how long she'd been sitting there in that position when a bark sounded from farther out in the lake, reverberating through the air in a way that seemed oddly reminiscent of the sound of metal striking a crystal glass.

~Eve?~

Eve knew the voice, and the sound of it now filled her with dread. This dread wasn't fear for herself, however; it was fear for the speaker. She looked up and saw Suicune standing atop the water not twenty feet from her own spot on the shore, her river-like mane billowing out behind her despite the oppressively still atmosphere of the lake.

For a moment, Eve did nothing but stare at Suicune in horror. Suddenly, she felt like she was once again in Team Rocket's grasp. She was once again a pathetically weak human, doing all she could to protect what was precious to her, even at the cost of her own sanity.

And as that memory returned in such a real way, so too did her voice finally begin to function after its weeks of silence.

"Suicune! No, you have to leave! You can't be here!" Eve said as she quickly stood up and rushed through the shallow waters and over to Suicune. As soon as she reached her, Eve began pushed on her side as if to force her to go. "They'll catch you! That's what they've been waiting for! I tried and tried to keep them from making me call you, but-"

~Eve! Calm yourself! What has happened to you?~ Suicune said, her eyes filled with concern. ~We are safe here. If there were any danger around, I would know it. Let's go to shore, where you can sit and remember yourself.~

Eve continued to push on Suicune's flank, and in a voice raspy from disuse continued to say, "But they'll catch you! You have to go!"

Before Eve could object any more, Suicune grabbed the back of her shirt in her teeth and lightly ran back to dry ground, dropping Eve carefully upon the shore. This whole act took barely a second or two, yet the suddenness of it was enough to bring Eve to her senses. She sat and stared at the ground for a few seconds as she gathered herself and recalled where she was, and that Team Rocket couldn't hurt her anymore.

Suicune saw that Eve had calmed, and she lay down next to her; the comforting presence further soothed Eve, though her heart was still racing from the sudden shock af her panic. ~Now, Eve, tell me… What is it that has happened to you? Physically, you seem mostly unharmed, but something has disturbed your peace of mind.~

Out of habit, Eve lapsed back into pokémon speech. ~So much has happened…~ she said hollowly, her mind feeling numb after her unfounded fear. ~A war began in this region. I'm sure you must've noticed it. I joined one side after a time, but… I was captured by the other side. Basil… He was killed trying to save me. They forced me to help them evolve pokémon, to make them stronger. And I did it, to keep my pokémon safe.~

~Why didn't you call out to me?~ Suicune said, her voice both alarmed and sad. ~Perhaps I could have done nothing for Basil, but surely I could have saved you from those who kidnapped you. Eve, I would have risked my very life for you. Surely you know that I was not lying to you the last time we met.~

Tears leaked from Eve's eyes, though she still had an overwhelming sensation of hollowness; even the rage of the lake could not penetrate her now. ~I was too disoriented by the shock of it all. I forgot your promise at first. But then… From one of my friends, they knew I could summon you. They wanted to trap you. I wouldn't let them do it. I stopped speaking all together. Even after I was rescued… Until now, I hadn't said a word. Now…~

"I suppose I can speak again," Eve said, finishing the thought in her breathy voice. "But I'm… I'm…" Suddenly, the rage overcame her, and she did nothing to resist it. "I hate them! I hate them all!" she shouted. "They murdered Basil, and they caged me, and they hurt me, and they would've hurt you! It's not just Team Rocket – all humans! I can't stand any of them now! I'm always afraid of them! Lance was willing to use force to get me back – he's just as bad as the rest of them!"

Suicune shifted and touched her nose to Eve's forehead; the sensation of rage didn't completely leave, but enough of her self-awareness returned for her to suppress its influence. ~Eve, not all humans are bad,~ Suicune said. ~You know this. I can sense that the rage of this place is affecting you adversely. Even after all this has happened to you, this is the first time you've let it come to outright anger, is it not?~

Eve let out a shaky breath and wiped the tears from her face as she slowly mastered her emotions. "You're right," she said, her voice barely audible. "It's only ever here that I can be angry… At any other place, it scares me too much. But what I said is true. I'm constantly afraid now. Aside from the few people I already trust, I'm scared of all humans. It's not that I think that they're all bad. But I can't trust them anymore. Just being close to them terrifies me, though I try to ignore the feeling. There are so many people out there that are after me, that would be willing to hurt me in whatever way possible in order to get what they want."

A growl-like humming noise came from Suicune's chest. ~If only you had called me… Eve, even if I had known it was a trap, I would gladly have come if it meant that they wouldn't have hurt you so. Ho-Oh and my brothers have rejected me. I have no home anymore, and my trainer was killed so many years ago… Yet you remind me so much of him, and of Yellow. If only you would let me help you. Please, Eve. Won't you allow me to join you on your journey? If I can, I want to prevent anything else from hurting you. Or at the very least, I wish to die while attempting to protect you. An eternity as a legend is too long for me to live without either my trainer or my family.~

Eve finally looked up at Suicune and realized that the sorrow in the great pokémon's eyes was not just from her sympathy for Eve. Suicune herself had been suffering in the time since they'd last parted. As a normal vaporeon, she had lived for the sake of her trainer; as a legend, she had lived by the command of Ho-Oh, the one who had once again given her life. Now that she had neither, it was all she could do to cling to the one person who reminded her most of what she had originally lost. Undoubtedly, it was her despair that had led her to the Lake of Rage in the first place, where she could soak herself wholly in the rage that had accumulated due to the tragedies of her long life.

"Suicune, I can't," Eve said as she reached up and touched her hand to Suicune's muzzle. "I know you were an average pokémon once, and that you traveled in a pokéball once as well. But now… In legend, you are the embodiment of the north wind. It would be wrong for you to be in a pokéball. Aside from wanting to protect you for all you've done for me, part of the reason I was so against summoning you was because there is something inherently wrong with putting you in any sort of cage, even if you want to be there. Or was I just imagining things? I felt that it was so true, but…"

Suicune lowered her head slightly. ~Perhaps you are right,~ she conceded. ~However, I know not what to do if I cannot help you. I-~

"You have to keep living, Suicune," Eve said, her own concerns fading as she saw into the depths of Suicune's troubles. "If you don't live for Ho-Oh now, then live on for the memory of the trainer that you loved. Besides, I didn't say that you couldn't help me. I need all the help I can get. Humans are after me, and I still don't know if any of the other pokémon I need to find will be as antagonistic as Ho-Oh. Though you wouldn't be able to come with me if I ever need to be among humans – which I know that I will have to do, even though I don't want to – I would welcome your company for as long as you're willing to stay with me."

~Then I will gladly accompany you,~ Suicune said as she rubbed her head affectionately against Eve's side.

Eve loosely grabbed the almost crown-like ornamentation that reached up from her forehead; the surface of it felt cool and smooth, somehow reminding Eve of the calmness of the lake. "But Suicune… You know, if something does happen to me, you must move on from it. As I said, continue living for your trainer's memory, if nothing else. If I am not the one to fix what's wrong in the world, then live on to help the next Not-Human. You will do that, won't you?"

~Yes, I will. I know well enough that my trainer wouldn't have wanted me wasting away for lack of purpose,~ Suicune replied. ~It's simply difficult for me to know, when he isn't here to tell me himself.~

Eve nodded, briefly wondering what Basil would think of the person she had become. "I'm glad to hear it. But now, Suicune, let's leave this place. I need to rest, and I don't wish to do so here, at the Lake of Rage. Maybe I could use anger to motivate me and give me strength, but at the same time… I can't help but think that it would bring more sorrow than good."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve walked slowly but purposefully through Violet City the next day, the brim of her hat tilted as low as possible without being suspicious. Her reason for enduring a place so populated by humans was twofold. Firstly, she needed to learn how the war was going. Secondly, she still wanted to check out Sprout Tower to see if it was one of the places that she was looking for.

Neither aspect of her mission was as hard as it might have seemed. As Eve had guessed, no one was able to recognize her with her completely different hair color and style, so long as she had her cap on to hide her feathers. To find out about the war, all she had to do was slip into a restaurant with TVs, order some lunch with the diminishing amount of money that she had, and watch the news. By doing this, she quickly found out that the New Republic (or the Rebellion, as it was now being called by that media) was doing quite a good job of defending both Cianwood and Olivine, as neither had fallen in the time since Eve had escaped. Their defenses were slowly crumbling, however, and surrender was expected to come within the coming month.

Of course, she could find nothing out about whether or not Hope had been captured. Despite how much Hope had managed to change the course of the war by capturing Eve, she as an individual was relatively unimportant at this phase of the war. Unimportant to everyone, that is, except Lance and those who knew of the circumstances under which Eve would return. Eve did speculate that there was a chance that Lance would broadcast the capture so as to tell her to return, but for some reason she doubted that even this would happen.

With that out of the way, Eve headed over to Sprout Tower. Just like the last time she had been there, she immediately felt a sensation of liveliness upon entering the building; it was as if the entire tower truly was a giant bellsprout, and entering into it had made Eve an essential part of something bigger than her individual self.

_But this feeling… It's similar to Burned Tower and Bell Tower and Giratina's cave, but it's not the same. But I also feel more than I ever did at Pokémon Tower, and I know for sure that that place was at least connected to one of the pokémon I'm looking for… Perhaps this place is similar. I should at least look around carefully. Maybe there'll be a mystical bellsprout here, like the murkrow at Pokémon Tower that was actually Giratina._

She went through the floors slowly, looking at the inscriptions on the walls and reading every single one of the informative placards. None of it shed any light on her current situation, however, nor was she greeted by any mysterious pokémon. Yet despite her lack of success, she constantly felt the tingle of life flowing through the building, as well as the idea that she was missing something very obvious. She felt certain that at least _some _important pokémon had to have a connection to this place; and even if it wasn't _the_ pokémon of life, she hoped that maybe it would at least know where to find the pokémon of life.

When she reached one of the upper floors, she was distracted from her search. Almost as soon as she exited the stairway, she heard two very familiar voices conversing, and she turned to see Katsu and Brian talking with each other, both dressed and acting as casual as any other tourist present.

_But why are they here? Shouldn't they be out fighting, or at least be back at the Pokémon League? I wonder… Are they maybe on some mission for Lance? But that doesn't make sense. They don't seem to be doing anything in particular, that's for sure. As best I can tell, they're just discussing the state of the war…_

She moved closer to them, pretending to read one of the informative placards that was placed near them. As she neared, she heard Brian saying, "But when the war is over, what then? If this isn't handled well, then our government will become more autocratic than ever. Even now, the absolute power that Lance has over the entire war effort is atrocious."

"You know, you should probably be a bit quieter about those views, at least until the war is over," Katsu responded. His usually shaggy blond hair was the shortest Eve had ever seen it; he'd probably cut his hair to keep it out of his face during battle. "You've already been reprimanded twice for 'subversive comments.' It's a miracle that Lance even let you out of the Pokémon League at all, regardless of how much help you've been to the war effort recently."

"I'm certainly not going to stop, if that's what you're suggesting I do. You know that I've practically dedicated my whole life to making the world safer for humans, so that what happened to my parents can't happen again. Especially with the war nearing its close, I can't just drop the issue. But talking about human safety won't matter if our government turns into a power-based autocracy overnight. If that happens, then my plea might not be acted on, even if the entire nation comes to agree with me."

Out of the corner of her eye, Eve saw Katsu run his hand through his hair, as if he were exasperated. "Sheesh, Brian. I really like you for that dedication, but it'd be a shame if you disappeared off the face of the earth because you're opposing Lance. I wouldn't put it past him. All I'm asking you to do is keep it quieter than you have before."

"I've been speaking publicly for years now, Katsu. If you act afraid for your message to get out, then people who hear you will be fearful of adding their voices to yours. I appreciate your concern, but I have to do what I have to do. If I do disappear, I'm counting on you to lead the protest movement. That'll certainly shake the government."

Even finally made up her mind to interrupt the two and reveal who she was to them. Admittedly, she was worried that they might insist that she return to Indigo Plateau, and maybe use force if she refused. Katsu was probably the more problematic of the two; he strongly believed that the chain of command had to be followed for the army to function properly, regardless of how distasteful the received orders were.

Nonetheless, she felt like she had to risk it. There were some things she couldn't find out about the war from the news alone. And besides, she had Suicune ready and waiting just outside of town. All she had to do was whisper her name under her breath and she would arrive in a few seconds, with the speed, size, and power to keep Eve from danger.

"Um, excuse me," Eve said as she tapped Katsu on the shoulder, causing both him and Brian to turn and look at her. Her voice was still low and airy, making her even more unrecognizable. Neither realized who she was immediately, and so she went on to say, "You're Katsu and Brian – you might not recognize me yet, but you'll figure it out soon enough, I bet."

Brian's and Katsu's gazes met momentarily, both of them confused. Then they turned back to Eve and, surprisingly enough, it was Brian who recognized her first. In the softest of whispers, he said, "Eve? Is that you?"

Eve smiled and nodded. She would have said something else, but now that she was once again speaking with humans she found herself strangely unwilling to talk more than necessary.

"No way," Katsu said, amazed. "You look so different with your hair like that! I can barely believe it. And you sound so different, too, but maybe that's just because I haven't heard you speak for so long. Where have you been all this time?"

She shrugged. "Here and there."

"But why are you here now?" Katsu asked, but before she could answer he continued, "No, never mind that. You need to get back to Indigo Plateau. All of us have been so worried that you'd be caught by Team Rocket again. Me and Brian and Rose and Mark - we all want to see you back there, at least until the war is over."

"I can't. I've got other things to do," Eve replied.

Katsu scowled. "But you need to come back. I felt bad enough when you ran away the first time; I'm not sure if you realize how much danger you're in when you don't have our protection. You have strong pokémon, sure, but all it would take is one sneaky person to-"

"I know. It's happened once already. Jenna saved me, though," Eve said.

"That just proves my point!" Katsu said emphatically, though he sensibly kept his voice down. "You have to come back with us. Even if you don't want to, I-"

"You're not seriously thinking about forcing her back, are you?" Brian said. "I mean, we're off duty now. Lance is rotating forces so that everyone can have a week or two at home; having too many people on one battlefield wouldn't be productive, anyway," he explained for Eve's sake. "It'd be different if maybe _we'd_ been the ones to find _her_, Katsu. But she came up to us; she trusted us enough to reveal that she was here. Regardless of if Lance finds out, I'm not betraying that trust, as much as I wish you'd come back, Eve."

Eve smiled gratefully. "Thanks. I appreciate that. And Katsu? What do you say?"

Katsu clenched his jaw in frustration. "I'm not going to cause a commotion here. If you won't help me, Brian, then I'm kind of outvoted. But Eve, really… Beyond how much damage you could do to the war effort if you were captured again, I'd really hate to see you hurt like that again. Are you sure you can't be convinced to come with us?"

"I'm sure. Sorry. But since I happened to find you, could you guys answer a question?" Eve asked.

"I'll answer that question by saying 'yes,'" Brian said jokingly. "And if you have another question, we'll do our best to answer it, too."

"Okay, then here's the thing… Neither of you would happen to know if Hope has been captured, would you?" Eve asked.

Katsu shook his head. "No, she hasn't, though she's been put at the top of the 'capture alive' list. Any unit that finds her in the midst of a battle is supposed to focus as much power as can be spared on defeating her and taking her prisoner. Why do you ask? Does that order have something to do with you?"

"Yeah," Eve admitted. "Jenna told Lance that I'd come back if Hope was captured. I need to, uh, talk to Hope. So is she still battling for Team Rocket? Is she defending Olivine City?"

"Yes, she is," Katsu said. "Do you want me to send word to Lance that he needs to step up his efforts to find her? Though he'll be extremely angry when he hears that we found you and didn't do anything to bring you back…"

Eve shook her head. "It's just as well if no one knows where I am. Jenna was pretty sure Lance was the one in command of the person who attacked me before… And just yesterday, he sent Clair to try to bring me back. I'd just as soon not have him on my trail again. But if you could… Please tell Mark and Rose that I'm all right. I don't want them worrying."

"You could tell them yourself if you'd just come back with us," Brian said.

"Sorry, but it's not going to happen," Eve said. "Anyway, I'll see you two some other time, hopefully. I'd like to keep moving."

She turned to leave, but Katsu grabbed her hand to stop her. She did stop, but instinctually ripped her hand out of his grasp. Though she was more comfortable being around Katsu and Brian than other people, she apparently still couldn't stand too direct contact with any human, regardless of who it was.

"Sorry," Katsu said, realizing his mistake; she'd had the same problem when she'd been back at the Pokémon League, and he probably hadn't realized that it hadn't gone away even when her ability to speak had returned. "But Eve, I was wondering why you bothered asking where Hope was. I know you want to talk to her, but you're not thinking about-"

Eve smiled, with just the slightest glint of daring in her eye. "Of course I wouldn't. I'll be fine. Now, goodbye!"

And before Katsu could stop her to ask her how she guessed so quickly what he was going to say, she was heading back down the stairs of the tower.

Katsu turned to Brian. "You don't think…?"

"I know she's not stupid, at least," Brian responded to the still unfinished question. "If she's going to do what you're so worried about, then she'll have a plan. You can count on it."

* * *

So I'm actually getting really excited about the PMD fanfic... I've yet to see if the excitement will last until I actually get to it, but right now, I certainly hope so. :-)

Anyway, thanks for reading! And if you've got an extra minute or two, I'd love to hear what you think of the story! You see, there's this crazy little thing called a review button. You just click it, and then you can tell me what you think! I'm starting think that people forgot about it, since I've got 50+ people who read the newest chapter the week after it comes out, but lately I receive only a review or two per chapter. And btw, I'm mainly talking to all of you who have never reviewed! I don't expect people to review every chapter or anything. Many thanks to Luxord's Xigbar, Redemption Warrior, Starlightmint72, Navybro, Hawk, Kevin, Shadowace2100, Yaersulf, and Rioluaura, just to name a few who have reviewed at least once in the past several chapters. Thanks so much to all of you, whether you've been commenting on the story itself or letting me know your interest in that PMD fanfic I've been thinking about!

Now, for all of you that I didn't just mention... Do you want me to point out the review button to you? Yeah, you do. Here it is - just follow the arrows and you'll find it eventually. Then click it. You know you want to~. ^_^

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	48. Death

**Chapter Forty-Eight: Death**

~Eve, it's time!~ Blight said as she flew through the air with incredible speed, barely stopping herself before hitting (or, rather, passing through) Eve. ~The battle's been going on for a long time, and everyone looks tired. It's now or never!~

~And Hope is still close to this side of the battle?~ Eve asked. Her voice, though not back to normal, sounded much better than it had at first; even so, she was cautious enough to use pokémon speech for now. Barely a mile away, the battle for Olivine was continuing, and Eve knew that one stray bird pokémon with sharp hearing could upset her entire plan.

~Yeah,~ Blight confirmed.

Eve pulled out her pokéball and thanked Blight as she returned her. ~Now Suicune, are you ready? We'll have to move quickly.~

Suicune laid down momentarily; Eve climbed onto her back and worked herself into the center of the fine, river-like streams of hair that flowed from the back of Suicune's head, so that at first glance she had practically disappeared beneath them. Then she grabbed onto the strange but ornamental protrusion that came from Suicune's head.

~Ready?~ Suicune asked.

"Yes," Eve said aloud, knowing that the time for secrecy was over. As Blight had said, it was now or never.

Before Eve quite knew what was happening, they were off. Though perhaps not quite as fast as the incredible velocities Eve had experienced while riding on the dragonite-transformed ditto some days ago, the grace and flexibility with which Suicune moved was almost beyond Eve's comprehension. They wove among the trees quite literally as the wind might; slowed slightly due to the lack of a straight course, yet staying so fleetingly in any one spot that they seemed almost insubstantial. And despite their speed, Eve hardly even felt their motion. It was more like she was gliding along.

They reached the battleground in under a minute. As Eve had expected, Suicune's presence caused a huge disruption in the battlefield, affecting each onlooker in different ways. Some stood rooted in shock, temporarily forgetting that they were in the middle of a life-and-death conflict; others saw Suicune, but then quickly turned away to use the distraction to their advantage; still others immediately began moving towards her, motivated by greed or glory. But these lattermost might as well have been moving away from Suicune. She navigated the many bodies – both alive and dead – of the battle not unlike the trees of the forest, with the unpredictability and speed of the north wind. Both she and the mostly hidden Eve were entirely beyond any human's or pokémon's reach, so long as they stayed on the move.

~Where is this girl you're looking for?~ Suicune ask as she continued to prance lightly through the battle, somehow in but not of the surrounding conflict.

Eve looked frantically around before finally spying the dark fur of a houndoom as the pokémon was illuminated by its combusting prey. ~There, Suicune. That girl with the houndoom and sneasel. See if you can get to them.~

Suicune wove through the crowd and attacks, knocked into Hope's opponents with a powerful tackle that sent them flying, and then suddenly the sounds of the battle were cut off. Suicune had set up her crystalline barrier around herself, Hope, and Hope's pokémon, completely isolating them from the action of the battle. It was the same sort of barrier that Eve and Houndoom had managed to pass through when Eve had first gone to meet Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. A combination of light screen, reflect, and protect seemed to make up its structure, though regardless of what its true nature was, it was effective.

As soon as the barrier was up, Eve slid off of Suicune's back so that she was standing face-to-face with Hope, seeing her for the first time since the terrible betrayal that had ended with Basil dead and Eve traumatized. And though the knowledge of that betrayal still hurt Eve, she had no room in her heart to dwell on the past. All she could focus on was the present, and the call that constantly seemed to come from the feathers entwined in her hair.

Both Sneasel and Houndoom stood at the ready, already tense from battle and unsure what they could do if Suicune decided to attack. Eve ignored them, and instead met Hope's empty gaze.

"Hope, I need you to come with me, please. There's something I need help with, and you're the only one who can do it," Eve said calmly but resolutely, terribly conscious of the large number of people now gathering around the outside of the crystal barrier. It appeared that now that Suicune had stopped, both sides were fighting viciously for control over the ground around the crystalline barrier. Whether they recognized Eve yet or not, she couldn't say; they might just be fighting to get Suicune, or they might realize that the stakes were higher than just the prize of a legendary pokémon.

Eve continued, "I don't think that you really want to be with Team Rocket. So if you're willing, return your pokémon and come with me and Suicune."

As Hope continued to look at Eve, Eve saw a look not unlike confusion come to her face, though it was hard to see. "And you would trust me again?"

Eve shook her head in answer, then added, "But I think you're a good person at heart, or you could be at least. I was told that you helped to save me from Team Rocket. I don't think you'd do anything more for them unless they forced you, like they're forcing you to battle now."

~Eve, I can't hold this barrier forever. Not when there's such a strong barrage of attacks on it,~ Suicune said, seeming strained.

~I know. I'll hurry,~ Eve said to her. "So Hope, what'll it be? Would you mind coming with me?"

The look of confusion left her face; perhaps her hollow heart had reaffirmed its claim on her. She returned her pokémon quickly and said, "I don't see why not."

"All right, then get on," Eve said as she jumped onto Suicune's back again, right at the base of her neck. Hope climbed on right behind her.

Once they were ready, Eve pulled a pokéball from her pouch and released Pebble, who crammed himself into the spot where Hope and Eve had just been standing.

~Remember, Pebble,~ Eve said, ~It's just got to be for a moment. Just enough to give Suicune the chance to break out from this knot of pokémon. She'll provide the rain; you get the lighting. Ready?~

Suicune didn't even wait for Pebble's confirmation. The long, natural crown on Suicune's head suddenly began to glow, and an absolute downpour came out of nowhere. Eve literally lost all sight of the people outside of the crystal walls, though she knew that the closest were barely a foot or two away from its sides. The two humans and two pokémon within the protective shield stayed dry, but that was only to last a moment. For almost as soon as the rain began, the blue orbs on Pebble's neck and tail tip began to glow. The dark around them – made all the darker by the curtains of rain – was suddenly pierced over and over again by lances of lightning.

This gambit was dangerous, and undoubtedly some people and pokémon in the battle who were completely exposed to the elements would get hit, and perhaps killed. But Eve reasoned to herself that there had to be plenty of pokémon that would take the hits, most of whom would be electric types or rock and ground types that naturally attracted electricity, like lightning rods. In all likelihood, everyone would be safe; that probability was enough for Eve to be comfortable with this plan.

Eve returned Pebble to his pokéball as soon as the lightning began. His job was done; with such violent lightning sparking all about them, and water pokémon that still might have been doing fine in the rainstorm would be stopped, and by Eve's reasoning there was no one who would be able to stop them.

~Now, Suicune!~

The crystal around them seemed to shatter outwards, and Suicune leapt forward through the shards of quartzlike energy. They were immediately blinded and drenched by the rain, yet somehow Suicune still managed to navigate her way past thunderbolts and trainers, until she, Eve, and Hope were entirely outside of the battle.

~So where next?~ Suicune soon asked after leaving behind the storm of rain, lightning, blood, and anger.

~Back to the Lake of Rage,~ Eve answered. ~I'm hoping a friend of mine will be there.~

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As luck would have it, the friend Eve wanted to see was indeed waiting for her at the Lake of Rage. Though they hadn't planned it when last parting, the friend in question – the talented ditto whom Eve had met twice now – was waiting for Eve at the north shore of the lake. As amazing as Suicune was, Eve knew that she wouldn't be able to cross the ocean and make it to Sinnoh. Ditto, on the other hand, could do so quickly and easily.

Eve regretfully parted ways with Suicune, though she promised to let her know as soon as she made it back to Johto. Then Eve and the ever uncaring Hope boarded Ditto in her dragonite form and set off for the mysterious lakeside cave in Sinnoh.

It was evening when they finally arrived at the lake in Sinnoh, so Eve decided that it would be best to wait until the next day to actually enter the cave. Eve had the ditto land outside of the mountainous sides of the lake, since there was little shelter on the shore or along the rim itself. It was a warm spring night, filled with the melodic chimes of kricketot hitting their antennae together, the haunting calls of hoothoot, and the contemplative reverberations of kricketune as they rubbed their forelimbs together. Despite the mildness of the air, Eve made a small fire, more for light than anything.

Then she let out all her pokémon, who were excited to finally get a chance to really enjoy the ditto's company; Hope followed suit, though most of her pokémon – her luxio and sneasel in particular – were less than friendly. But regardless of their amiability, they all ended up messing around in the shelter of the nearby trees, leaving Hope and Eve alone at the fire.

"So Hope, I'd really like to know…" Eve said, finally breaking the silence that had stretched for a long time. "Did Team Rocket force you to tell about me? Or did you volunteer the information?"

Hope shrugged. "I volunteered it. I would've been punished more if I hadn't, but that hardly mattered to me."

Eve wasn't sure what she'd been expecting as an answer. She was so scared of practically all humans, yet the one person whom she probably needed to be most angry at was the one she didn't fear at all. Or rather, she didn't have the unreasoning fear, otherwise her and Hope's journey to Sinnoh would have been unbearable for Eve; Hope had had to hold onto her the entire way in order to keep from falling off. Eve still knew that there was a chance that Hope could betray her, and she stayed wary because of that. Yet some part of her wanted so much to trust her, and perhaps to even help her to find some enjoyment in life. Maybe Hope could still find some reason to live other than battling.

"You said you'd be punished more?" Eve asked. "Had they already done something to you?"

Hope reached up with her left hand and pushed up the short sleeve of her opposite arm; burned into the flesh right near her shoulder was a large letter 'R'. "They did it to the other side, too. Wanted to make me an example, they said," Hope explained. "But as I said, it hardly mattered. I had no reason not to speak about you, so I told them what I knew."

"But if you did that so willingly, why is it that you told Mark where I was?" Eve asked. That single action didn't fit with everything that Eve knew of Hope's personality. Unless she was told to, she did nothing of her own accord that didn't involve battling and training. "Surely… I've always wondered if maybe it's part of some bigger scheme of Team Rocket. Did they possibly want me back under Lance's control and protection? That doesn't make any sense, but… I don't know."

"I wasn't ordered to," Hope said simply.

"Then why?"

Hope looked into the embers of the slowly dwindling fire for a few moments, as if searching for the answer there. Eventually, she replied, "I don't know."

This inconclusive answer filled Eve with hope. Just maybe Hope was growing a conscience, or else was starting to feel the tug of friendship. Eve wasn't sure why it mattered so much to her that something like this need to happen; all she knew was that the idea made her excited. Still, she didn't pursue the issue more, and they lapsed back into silence for a time.

Then, to Eve's surprise, it was Hope who restarted conversation. "You told me that this is the pokémon of death. Why choose me?"

"She – Giratina, that is – said she'd only accept you. She said she'd watched you from Pokémon Tower since you were a kid."

"Why watch me? And why accept only me?"

_What's with all these questions? She never used to be interested in anything, no matter how much it pertained to her. Hopefully it's another sign that she's changing, slowly but surely. _"She said that you were a human after her own heart, I think. She said that death is an ending, nothing more or less. And apparently you understand that better than anyone she's ever seen. She said that you've faced death… Like the death of your parents. And she said that you've killed others, as well."

Hope didn't either confirm or deny this last statement, but Eve knew it had to be true. Giratina had no reason to lie about it, and Eve knew that Hope had been fully capable of doing so, even outside of the setting of the war.

Silence engulfed them again.

Eventually, all the pokémon returned, stopping any chance of continued conversation. They decided it was late, and with little argument, they all went to sleep.

All except one, that is. One human teenager trying to understand her own actions, and the actions of the girl of the girl she had once betrayed. But no answers came to her in the songs of the kricketot and kricketune; no explanation appeared from the whisperings of the canopy so far above her head. The questions she asked herself were ones that only she herself could answer.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So to be honest, Hope, I really don't know how to navigate this cave," Eve said as they entered the fog filled cavern the next morning. "Pebble and I think that the dimensions are twisted here, but we don't-"

"This way," Hope interrupted as she stepped decisively towards the entrance on their left.

Eve scowled as she followed her. "But how do you know where to go?"

Hope shrugged as she continued moving. "I don't know. I just do."

They entered the next room, and Eve saw a feature that was quite unlike the scattered rocks of the rooms she had seen on her last visit here. A humongous pillar rose from the center of the room, so wide that in circumference it rivaled the ancient trees outside and so tall that it stretched into the nothingness of the fog above them.

Hope acted as if she didn't see the pillar; instead, she walked straight ahead to the next room, where once again the two humans found another giant pillar. Ignoring it again, Hope turned right towards the next exit.

"Hope? Are you sure we're moving forward? This could be the same as the last room…" Eve said, confused enough by the twisted dimensions to be at least a little worried about being stuck in here forever.

"I'm sure," Hope said as the two entered the next room, which yet again had a pillar in it.

Part of Eve didn't quite believe Hope and continued to worry. However, this worry ended as soon they entered the next room. Rather than a pillar, a giant mound stood in the center; through the fog, Eve could just barely make out writing of some sort on the side facing them. This alone wouldn't have reassured Eve; but in addition to this new feature, Eve felt a thrill go through her, a thrill which oddly enough seemed to start from the feathers in her hair and travel all the way down to her toes.

"This is it, isn't it?" Hope asked.

Eve nodded.

"Then what do we do now?"

Eve tried to calm the excited beating of her heart. "Well, I normally use a pokéflute to summon… But I lost that to Team Rocket, I suppose. It's just to help me concentrate, so as long as I focus, I bet-"

_There's no need for that, _a voice suddenly rang out through both Hope's and Eve's minds. _I've been waiting for you, so there's no need to call me here._

What looked like a hole seemed to open up in the floor right in front of the mound. Except it wasn't quite what it seemed to be. Unlike a regular hole, the space within this thing was completely and utterly black, a void unlike any Eve had ever seen. And yet the blackness within it seemed to shift and swirl, as if it had a life of its own.

Then a pair of red, gleaming eyes shown through the darkness, and a gargantuan shape began to snake out of the abyss. In the dimness of the cave, it was hard to tell quite what it was. At first Eve thought it was more serpentlike than anything, but then she noticed legs at its sides – not two, not four, but six. Yet she was certain they hadn't been there a moment ago.

As soon as it was fully out of the hole, its appearance seemingly solidified, as if it really hadn't had a definite shape before coming fully into this world. Its head towered so far above the two humans that all they could see of it were the gleaming red eyes that stared back at them. Two shadowy wings stretched out from the back of its long, thick neck, almost like two ghostly claws waiting to reach out and grab those caught unawares. Its six legs were thick and short, but they made its appearance look all the more menacing. And its tail extended into the darkness of the hole, as if this pokémon was reluctant to fully leave the comfort of the void from whence it came.

_You look so surprised, Eve. Have we not met before?_

Eve blinked and recovered; as frightening as a pokémon as it seemed to be, she sensed no malevolence. Nor was there anything like the wrath of Ho-Oh. As far as she could tell, she had nothing to be afraid of. "You looked quite a bit different then, Giratina."

_Well, death is anything but a certain thing… You can never know for sure when or how your life will end. All that is certain is the fact that it will end. Perhaps the cause will be a murkrow flying in front of a car, causing the driver to swerve and crash._

As she said this, her body seemed to dissolve into shadows; the only solid form left was the small murkrow Eve had met in Pokémon Tower.

_Or perhaps a sudden flood drowns an unsuspecting family of pokémon._

Her shape changed again, this time into a shadowy mimic of Lugia.

_Or maybe even a strike of lightning hits a poor, unlucky girl who has earned the ire of Ho-Oh._

And with this, he changed into a great orangish-yellow bird with large sparks of electricity flying from its feathers. It was no pokémon Eve recognized, not even from legends; perhaps it was a creature of Giratina's own imagining.

Eve gasped at the sight of it, for the first time feeling threatened by Giratina. She slowly moved her left hand down into her pokéball pouch and grabbed one of the spheres within as she said cautiously, "So you're the one who helped Ho-Oh kill Yellow."

The great electric bird seemed to chuckle before melting into shadow and returning to Giratina's original six-legged form. _Ah, yes. But don't worry, you have nothing to fear. It was the girl's time to go, and so I agreed to help Ho-Oh with his vendetta. You're time, however, is not now. You need not worry about laying eyes on my true form, as every departed soul must eventually do. You have glimpsed it as I emerged from the Distortion World, but that is nothing. _

Giratina turned her glowing crimson gaze to Hope. _So, did Eve tell you why I wanted you specifically?  
_

"Yes," Hope answered dully, neither scared nor thrilled by the legend's presence.

_You are an exceptional individual among humankind, and it is for this reason I've watched you since you first stepped into Pokémon Tower. When your parents were murdered, I welcomed them with open arms – so to speak – for they had done a marvelous thing by bringing you into the world. And now, seeing you side by side with Eve… _She turned to address Eve. _I'm afraid I was right in what I said the first time we met._

"Right? About what?" Eve asked, trying to remember more of the conversation.

_I simply cannot bear to give over the fragment of Death that I guard. Not to you. Not when Hope is so much more deserving. Like most humans – and most pokémon, for that matter – you don't wish to acknowledge any ending, or death. You don't accept that you will one day die._

"Of course I accept it! I'm not-"

_Then let me rephrase. You know that your ending shall come, but you don't truly realize it. You think in the present, and the present cannot include your death so long as you are thinking. And you would never kill another on purpose, even if it meant saving something most dear to you. I believe I explained this the first time we met, as well. My point is, you are so thoroughly unworthy of my power that I shall not give it to you._

Eve scowled. She needed that fragment; the fact that its power was so close and yet she didn't have it was almost too much for her to bear. "But your job – isn't it to give me that fragment of existence? Lugia told me a little about it. Arceus gave you the power, and now you're supposed to-"

_Oh, forget Arceus. If His time comes and He is angry with me, then so be it. I haven't seen him for what feels like millennia. I do have a bit of an obligation nonetheless… I suppose I can compromise._

Before either Hope or Eve could do much to stop it, Giratina reached down her wings and seemingly engulfed the two in shadow. It didn't hurt, but for a moment both girls went completely blind.

In another moment, Giratina withdrew her wings back to their original positions. Hope came out entirely unphased; Eve looked down at herself and felt her hair frantically, trying to figure out what had happened.

_You're looking in the wrong girl's hair,_ Giratina said in an almost laugh.

Eve looked up and over at Hope and, sure enough, a feather of pure black was tangled into her hair, almost invisible against her own dark tresses.

_I have no qualms about giving that feather to Hope, even if it's only on a temporary basis. It will go to you, Eve, as soon as it leaves her._

"But how will it leave her?" Eve asked. "If it's like my feathers, then no one will be able to get it out. They stay in there permanently."

Giratina leaned her neck down, and for the first time Eve saw her face. It was covered mostly in yellow, spiky ornamentation; but set deep behind the adornments were the two red eyes and a mouth that took up almost the entire lower half of the face. Giratina seemed to whisper, _Surely Lugia mentioned some other way for the feather to come off, did she not?_

Eve thought for a moment, then offhandedly began, "If I die, I suppose they'll go away, but…" Horror overcame Eve as the red eyes seemed to light up with a grim delight. "You don't mean that Hope has to die before the feather can come to me, do you?"

_That's exactly what I mean,_ Giratina said as she once again withdrew her head into the upper reaches of the fog. _Your reaction proves my point; you aren't yet worthy of my power. Perhaps this test will teach you something about death. So Hope, how do you feel about this arrangement?_

She shrugged, and looked over to Eve. "Do you want me to kill myself?"

"No!" Eve said without hesitation, absolutely appalled by the idea. "Giratina, this is cruel and unfair!"

_I could have killed you, like I did Yellow. Then you would have understood the meaning of the word, 'end'. Would you have preferred that?_

~Oh, do stop being such a sadistic bully, Giratina! I simply won't have it!~

Eve and Giratina both looked around as they suddenly heard a pokémon's voice echo through the cavern, a high-pitched sort of shrieking. Hope most likely heard the noise as well, but being unable to understand pokémon speech, she didn't realize something was being said.

A tiny little zubat suddenly began fluttering around Giratina's face, though the blue pokémon was barely more than a rapidly moving shadow to Eve's eyes. ~You already know how mad I was with you and Ho-Oh after the whole incident a hundred and fifty years ago! And now you go and do something like this! You're such a big bully, Giratina!~

Giratina shifted to pokémon speech. ~Mew? What are you doing here? You just came to visit me a few days ago. Your visits are hardly so frequent.~

The zubat shifted forms, melting into a small, pink, almost feline form. The new pokémon was exactly as Eve had seen her depicted in legend books. She was supposedly the ancestor of all pokémon, and strangely enough, she seemed almost familiar to Eve.

~Well, my visits wouldn't have to be so frequent if you listened to what I said!~ Mew continued on, her rage almost comical; Giratina's head alone was bigger than Mew's entire body. ~I told you that I didn't want you or anyone else trying to interfere and mess with the process anymore! Poor Arceus – He's probably tearing up the original dimension in anger, thanks to the meddling of you and Ho-Oh! Sheesh! You ought to show some gratitude, you know?~

~You made me one of the five most powerful pokémon before Arceus even considered sealing Himself away. I owe Him little.~

~Wait – you're Mew?~ Eve suddenly spoke up. ~But aren't you… Aren't you that ditto who's been helping me out?~

Mew's attitude immediately changed as she zoomed down to Eve. ~Yep yep, that's me for sure!~ she said happily. ~Sorry for lying to you. Although it wasn't really lying, 'cause I was a ditto whenever I said I was a ditto. And when I was visiting an old friend while you were here that last time, the old friend was Giratina! I knew she'd probably be a troublemaker like this when you finally got to meet her, since apparently ushering the spirits of the dead isn't enough amusement for her. I would have been here to stop her from playing her mean trick, but I got lost in these stupid dimension-bending caves! I swear that they get harder and harder to figure out every time I come here! But now there's nothing I can do. That feather in your friend's hair is Arceus's power. I can't alter creations born of His power, just as He can't touch mine. So I'm afraid what Giratina said is true… The feather won't pass to you unless your friend dies.~

~But that's not fair!~ Eve protested, sincerely upset. ~She's done some bad things to me, but I'm not going to kill her for her feather. But I have to get the feather! It's tearing me apart just not having it!~

~Trust me, I'm totally on your side,~ Mew said. ~But there's nothing either of us can do. The best advice I can give you is to keep on looking for the last two fragments of existence. At the very least, it'll keep you busy. And maybe one of the other keepers of the fragments will have an idea on how to get it to you without your friend having to die.~

Eve frowned and lapsed back into human speech. "But I have no idea where the last two are. Not even a clue. I don't suppose you'd tell me, would you?"

~Nope, sorry!~ Mew said playfully. ~Arceus wanted that to be for you to figure out. I'll respect His wishes. But I'd be more than willing to give you a lift wherever you want to go! Since you've gotten this far, I want to keep an eye on you. If you can actually do this, I bet you can do a lot of good for the world! I feel like it's about time for a change. A BIG change. So let's get out of here, since Giratina is just being a big bully.~

Giratina bent down her head to that. ~Mew, I'm offended. I have a duty to the fragment I represent. If I just gave it to someone totally lacking in credentials, I-~

Mew suddenly transformed into a mirror image of Giratina, though thankfully she made sure to float away from Hope and Eve before doing so; otherwise, it would have been difficult for the two tiny humans to dodge the six feet. The fake giratina drew herself up haughtily and taunted to Giratina, ~Oh, look, I'm Giratina, and I'm so special and pretty that I can't settle in a single dimension and I think I know better than Arceus Himself, who TOLD ME QUITE SPECIFICALLY to give the fragment to any Not-Human who came with the right human! Look at how SMART and MAGNIFICENT I am, ruling the dead and other stuff!~

Then a tremor ran through the copy's body, and Mew once again returned to her original form. ~Some great pokémon you are, Giratina!~ she said as she continued her angry rant. ~If you thought it was a long time before my last visit, just wait! I'm never gonna come see you again for CENTURIES! You big zubat-brained, multi-legged slowpoke of a ghost! So there! Come on, Eve! You and me and your friend are leaving!~

Eve blinked, and as she opened her eyes she found herself, Hope, and Mew back outside of the cave. But Mew just kept on ranting, even now that they had left Giratina.

Eve sighed, and thought wistfully, _Well, at least I sort of have the Death fragment of existence… The question is, how am I ever going to truly have it?_

_Giratina was right about one thing… On purpose, there's no way I could kill. And I definitely can't kill Hope, even as important as that feather in her hair might be._

* * *

So, sorry about this update being a day late... I mentally died for five of the six days before yesterday. Like, I didn't want to do _anything. _At all. It was bad, especially since not doing anything makes me feel guilty, 'cause I feel like I'm wasting time. I'm back to normal now, though, and hopefully I'll stay that way!

And... Drumroll, please... 300,000+ words in this fanfic! I feel so proud of myself. ^_^ I'm glad I made it this far! Though I think it's a safe bet to say that the 400,000 word mark will never be reached... The end is (relatively) nigh! But then again, relative in the scope of a (so far) 48 chapter, 300,000 word story doesn't mean much. We've still got a ways to go.

Thanks for reading~! :-D


	49. In The Beginning

**Chapter Forty-Nine: In The Beginning...**

~So Mew, I was wondering… How much would you be willing to tell me about what all this is all about?~ Eve asked soon after she, Mew, and Hope had arrived in the wooded area just north of Violet City. Mew had teleported them straight there from Giratina's cave, which would have been a miraculous feat had it not been done by the ancestor of all pokémon. The destination had been Eve's suggestion, since she wanted to check out Sprout Tower once more for anything she might have missed.

~All this? What do you mean, 'all this'?~ Mew asked. She was currently transformed into a flaafy, which seemed to be one of her favorite forms. Hope had immediately gone off to train upon arriving here, meaning that Mew and Eve were alone for the moment.

Eve shrugged. ~You know, everything I'm supposed to be doing. This not-human thing, and the fragments of existence or whatever you want to call them. Why is it this way? I think Lugia said something about Arceus locking himself away… But how are you involved in all of it?~

~You're not trying to make me spill the beans on the location of the next fragment, are you?~ Mew asked, playfully suspicious.

Eve smiled. ~Of course not. Though if you happened to mention something about that during your answer, I can't deny that I'd appreciate it.~

~Nope! My lips are sealed!~ Mew said. ~Well, concerning that, at least. But as for the big picture, it's not really a secret or anything. Even you humans know parts of it, even though there weren't any humans around when it all began. So, do you really want to hear it? It's kind of a long story… You know, the creation of the world and its inhabitants isn't exactly a simple matter.~

~I'm ready,~ Eve said, grinning. She got the feeling that she should probably be a bit more solemn when hearing such a tale, yet she found it impossible to stay serious when as lighthearted a pokémon as Mew was around.

~Okey-dokey then, here goes nothing,~ Mew said, then began, ~You see, it all started a long, long time ago, in a dimension far away… Okay, well, I guess dimensions can't really have distance from each other, but anyway, I'm getting off track already. That was the Original Dimension, or so me and my good buddy Arceus call it. We came out of a single egg, but the egg wouldn't have existed if we hadn't existed together, or something like that… It's kinda hard to explain. Point is, we hatched. Arceus brought matter into being, and I gave matter form. Sort of. But it was simultaneous, and unlike those silly ungrateful human legends say, Arceus wasn't the main creator. If I hadn't been there, then the matter couldn't have existed, because it needs a form to exist. That all make sense so far?~

~…No. Not at all. Sorry,~ Eve said. ~Is the rest of the story this confusing?~

Some static built up on Mew's flaafy wool as she became slightly frustrated. ~It gets better, really. But still, I think I maybe have a better idea. You're going to go to Sprout Tower, right?~

~Yeah, that's why we're here. We could even go right now, I guess; it's only mid afternoon, so it'd still be open to visitors. But what does that have to do with this?~

Mew's shape suddenly shrunk into an odd-looking little green bird that Eve recognized as a natu. Then, in another moment, the natu disappeared, and in that same moment Eve felt a weight suddenly on the top of her head.

~Then let's go! I think there'll be an easier way to explain it there,~ Mew-natu said. ~Let's go get Hope and go!~

~No, Hope can't come along,~ Eve said as she reached into her hip pouch and pulled out the cap she had stuffed in there earlier. She was going to put it playfully onto Mew-natu's head, but the bird disappeared for a moment until Eve had (to her surprise) put the cap on her own head, as she eventually had planned on doing. ~I want her to, but right now, she's probably more recognizable than me. Especially now that she has that feather… If anyone guessed it was anything more than someone trying to imitate me, then we'd have trouble. But we should at least tell her where we're going.~

Before Eve could think about heading in the direction Hope had gone, she and the natu on her head were suddenly right next to Hope. And Mew was telepathically saying to Hope, _We're going to Sprout Tower now! We'll be back in a bit!_

Then they disappeared again, only to reappear right in front of Sprout Tower. Some people stared at them as Eve tried to regain her balance; teleporting twice in quick succession almost gave her stomach a queasy feeling.

~Sheesh, Mew, quit teleporting everywhere so quickly! I can't keep up!~ Eve said, using pokémon speech so that no humans around would even know she was talking with the natu on her head. ~And besides, we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves!~

Eve felt the natu on her head hop up briefly. ~Sorry!~ Mew said. ~But anyway, it doesn't matter if we're noticed, really. So long as I'm around, no one'll catch you! Humans don't call me a mirage for nothin'!~

~If you say so,~ Eve said as she shook her head, exasperated. ~And have you been able to use telepathy this whole time?~

~Of course. Why do you ask?~ Mew replied as Eve walked into Sprout Tower.

~No reason, really. You just hadn't used it until you talked to Hope just then. I would've thought that you would've talked with her as soon as you got a chance, after we left Giratina.~

~It hurts most human's minds, at least at first, so I try to avoid telepathy. Besides, pokémon speech is so much more natural. But anyway, why are we talking about telepathy at a time like this? Don't you have answers to find in here?~

Eve grinned and scanned the first floor. Nothing caught her eye that she hadn't already looked closely at the last time she'd been here; perhaps unsurprisingly, no secrets jumped out at her. The walls, the tourists, the ever-swaying pillar… They were all the same as ever.

_Or maybe not quite the same as ever…_ Eve thought to herself. _There's way more people here than the last time I was here, and I think there might be even more than the first time I was here, before the war ever started. Is it some religious holiday or something?_

She walked close to a large group of women, all of them maybe ten or so years older than Eve. As she began to listen in, one of them was saying, "Who would've known that it would've taken this long? I swear, the day before it all started, you would have been called crazy for saying that a war would start in any part of the world, let alone here."

"I know!" said another woman. "All the more reason to be grateful that it's all over, and to give thanks for the lives saved by its ending. If it had continued, who knows how many more would have died?"

Eve stepped away from them again, having heard enough already. ~It sounds like the war is finally over. That's a relief!~ Eve said. ~It really was terrible… I was only really in one battle, but that was horrible enough for me. So many people and pokémon died.~

~I hate to break it to you, but humans are kind of inclined to war,~ Mew commented. ~War will happen again, somewhere in the world. Soon, I'd guess. The only thing that kept it in check for so long was that for the longest time, humans and pokémon were more in balance. Now that it's started back up… Well, let's just say that war might become more of a normal. That is, unless you change things for the better.~

Sighing, Eve walked as close to the pillar as possible, then leaned on the railing that guarded anyone from falling down. She stared forward at the swaying beam of wood, deep in thought. ~Yeah, I know. I sorta get that feeling, too… That now that this war has happened, more will follow. And I want to help by stopping them, but… This is the third time I've been to Sprout Tower, and I still have no clue where to go next. What am I going to find now that I couldn't find before?~

Mew-natu hopped onto the railing next to Eve and stared at her. Or, rather, stared _through _her; like all natu, she seemed to be staring at something far in the distance. ~You're trying to get me to give you a hint, aren't you? Well, it's not going to happen! You just have to think a little harder! The answer's right in front of you!~

Eve literally looked right in front of her, but all she saw was the giant wooden pillar. ~Hypothetically speaking, what if you were in a good enough mood to want to give me a better explanation as to what I'm looking for?~

~Hypothetically speaking, I'd be angry at myself because I know Arceus would be mad at me for interfering too much,~ Mew replied.

~But what if you just felt like you were making up for what Ho-Oh and Giratina have done?~ Eve argued. ~Hypothetically, of course.~

Though Mew-natu stayed completely still, Eve could tell that she had brightened at this thought. ~Then I would – hypothetically – mention that it seems odd that the pillar in front of us is swaying so much, at least on this floor.~

Eve scowled and looked back to the pillar. ~Huh? What do you mean by that?~ she asked.

~Perhaps it's just my imagination, but shouldn't it be a lot less wobbly here at the bottom? In the middle, I understand, but this _should _be close to where it's firmly rooted in the ground.~

Eve leaned over the railing and looked down, but sure enough, she realized that the ground was not right beneath her here. It appeared as if there was another room down below this one. ~Well, I read all the info signs in here the last time I was here. I think I remember reading one of them that said there was a basement level that's closed to the public, and that just below that was where the pillar was truly stuck in the ground. I didn't think about it much at the time.~

~Still, only one level below this?~ Mew said. ~Surely that doesn't account for the magnitude of the swaying here. If the pillar was that naturally wobbly, then there's no way this building would stand in a storm.~

A slight smile crept onto Eve's face. ~Mew, there wouldn't happen to be a room beneath even the basement, would there? A room no one here knows about?~

Mew-natu hopped back onto Eve's head. ~I suppose there's only one way to find out!~

Eve should've been used to the sudden teleporting by now. But she wasn't. She had still been leaning on the railing when Mew had teleported, and now that she found herself in total darkness with nothing to lean on, she could do nothing but fall to the ground.

"Ouch!" Eve said out loud as she pushed herself up from the earthen floor into a sitting position. "Gosh, Mew, what did I say about teleporting!"

~Sorry again!~ Mew replied as something began lighting the darkness. Eve looked over and saw the Mew had changed into another pokémon, a small, strange looking bipedal pokémon with a large head. It floated in the air, and the three lights at the ends of each of its arms glowed brightly in different colors. Eve recognized it from a science fiction movie she had seen once, about alien pokémon – it was an elgyem. ~But hey, we're here! I haven't been here in about fifteen hundred years! I had a human friend at one point who I talked to a lot, and he wrote down all the stuff I told him and then hid it here! Of course, first he needed a system of writing… That's when I brought the unown into existence! Neat, huh?~

As Eve looked around in the bright light given off by Mew-elgyem, a nagging feeling of déjà vu started eating at her mind. _The pillar in the center… And there're shelves around the sides, all with old, leather-bound books with unown in the covers. I've definitely been here before. This is where the unown brought me that one time! Which means that right over there-_

Eve walked over to the only wall not covered with shelves and, sure enough, a paragraph of unown-script was inscribed onto the wall. "The unown showed me this place once before, Mew. I had no idea it was beneath Sprout Tower," Eve said. "I copied down the inscription here, and some humans translated it. It talked about all the fragments of existence. "

~Yep, that's my friend for ya! He put the most important stuff up for all to see, and the unown knew it and they decided to show you!~ Mew said. ~But anyway, the more detailed stuff is over here, in the books. Let me see…~ She gestured to a book in the upper left of one of the walls, and it floated into the air in front of her. ~This is it! So hey, Eve, you still wanted to know about the big picture of what you're doing?~

~Yes, please,~ Eve said.

The book suddenly opened itself to its first page. ~Well, in this book my old friend did his best to record the history of the world, as I told it to him. He probably interpreted it in a way that you'll understand better.~

~Okay, then. I'm ready whenever you are,~ Eve said.

The lights on Mew-elgyem's hand blinked momentarily, then she began:

~Once upon a destiny of worlds, two creatures were born from each other. One, Arceus, brought matter into being. The other, Mew, gave the matter form. Arceus created, and Mew gave meaning and sentience. The two actions occurred at once, for without form, Arceus could not bring forth matter; and without matter, Mew would have nothing to give form to. They gave birth to each other, for only their combined powers could bring the two of them into existence.~ Then, breaking from the text, she added, ~That's pretty much everything I told you earlier. It make any more sense now?~

Eve sat down on the earth floor, leaning her back against one of the stone bookshelves. ~It's a little better, at least. Still pretty confusing, but maybe that's to be expected. Now, are you going to tell me the rest of the story?~

~Yep! Let's see…~ She paused for a moment as she found her spot, then continued. ~Mew and Arceus then selected a dimension other than the Original Dimension, and selected a planet from this dimension. Mew then laid eggs, bestowing her gifts of emotion and strength to her children. To some, she gave great strength so that the others might live in a more beautiful world: Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina were born to control the dimensional forces of Space, Time, and Darkness. Kyogre and Groudon formed the world that the others would inhabit, and Rayquaza brought together the atmosphere so that all might be able to live in a fully-formed world.~

~But wait…~ Eve interrupted. ~I know all those legends. Dialga and Palkia… You're saying that they came from you? All the myths I've heard of say that they're more related to Arceus… Same goes for Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie. They're all supposed to have come straight from Arceus.~

The red light on Mew-elgyem's hand flashed in annoyance. ~Well, they're also pokémon, and I'm the ancestor of all Pokémon. Arceus is the only maybe exception, but even He was born from me, as I was from Him. So if Dialga and all them are pokémon, then they had to come from me, not Arceus. As I said before, humans know a lot, but they still mess up the details. The ancient people of Sinnoh sorta decided to relate all their myths directly to Arceus somehow, so Dialga and Palkia and everyone else got lumped together under Arceus's authority. So anyway, can I continue?~

~Yes, please. Sorry for interrupting.~

So Mew began once again: ~Finally, after the entire planet was populated by Mew's children, she used the last of her Original Powers to create in her image Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie; and these beings she ordered to guard the emotions of the created pokémon. For the great strength of pokémon lies not in their physical prowess or special abilities, but in their emotions. The great gift that gave form to their being was not energy, but feeling.~

~Mew lost so much power to her children that she was no longer able to retain her space in the Original Dimension after her work was done. She came to dwell amongst her children, at long last becoming a true pokémon herself.~ Half to herself, Mew added, ~Man, it's weird to read about myself in the third person, but oh well. Anyway, on to the part that really concerns you, Eve.~

~Arceus chose not to give away His powers, but instead created a race like Himself and yet different. They would not be pokémon, such as Mew's progeny. As beings of the same world, they would inevitably acquire some of the characteristics of pokémon, such as love and hate; yet they would not be governed by these emotions such as the pokémon were. Instead, His creations – the humans – would create, as he himself could and as Mew could not. Unlike the pokémon, who gave true form to thought, the humans would create thought itself. Humans would forever grasp for that which was not there and, in the process, create that which had previously been inconceivable.~

~That's sort of what Mespirit told me, I think…~ Eve said, interrupting once again as she tried to make sense of the story. ~Or maybe it was some other Pokémon who told me it… It feels like so long ago. But someone explained to me the difference between humans and pokémon, and why I was more pokémon than human. That's all that you were just saying, right? You gave pokémon emotions, which they act solely on… And then humans can create? Imagine and stuff?~

~To be honest, it's actually way more complicated than that,~ Mew said. ~That's the baby way to explain it. It really has more to do with the very soul, and how much the souls of humans differ from the souls of pokémon… But even Arceus and I can't so much as see souls, so we couldn't even explain it to you. The fact it, though, that they're different, and emotions versus creativity is a good way to explain the difference. You just happen to have the emotion soul thing or whatever you want to call it, and what creativity you have is more from living with humans than due to some innate part of you. But ANYWAY, we still haven't gotten to the important part, so let's keep going.~

This time, Mew didn't wait for any sort of recognition from Eve to see if her questions were answered; she went straight back to the story.

~Having finished His work, Arceus then sealed Himself away in the Original Dimension, where He and Mew had been born. Since He had retained all His power, His existence was too much for the newly formed world to endure. However, knowing that His power might one day be needed, He engineered a way in which He might be called upon again to use His power.

~He selected five of Mew's most powerful sons and daughters, and gave them a touch of his own power. This power, though a part of these chosen five, was also separate so as not to tamper with Mew's children. Only when a human who is not human collects pieces of these five powers might the door to the Original Dimension be opened. For even if these five chosen pokémon came together to try to summon Arceus, only one of Arceus's own creations could contact Arceus Himself.

~The five chosen pokémon then locked themselves away in their chosen locations. Each of these pokémon became defined by the fragment it possessed, for each of the fragments represented a different quality – a quality not of humans nor of pokémon, but of existence as a whole. To summon each of these pokémon, two humans will be needed: the human who is not human, and a human that represents the quality of the pokémon being summoned. Only when the human who is not human has collected all the fragments can Arceus once again be summoned and great changes be wrought upon the current world.~

Mew paused as if finished, and so Eve asked, ~Is that all of it?~

~It certainly is!~ she said. ~Well, not all of the book, of course… It goes on to detail the history of the world up to the writer's time period. But that's all of the part that concerns you. Cool that you're part of all that, huh?~

Eve sighed and stood up. ~I wouldn't exactly call it cool… If anything, it's made my life pretty terrible. But even so, I hope I can change the world for the better. But hey, what are you doing now?~

The pages of the book in front of Mew-elgyem were flipping rapidly, but as Eve spoke, they came to a stop somewhere in the first half of the ancient text. ~The story I just told isn't what we came to Sprout Tower for, is it? You came looking for clues on the pokémon that guards the fragment of Life.~

~Is there something in there about it? Or will you finally just come out and tell me?~ Eve asked excitedly.

~I already feel like I've done too much. But if I ACCIDENTALLY left this book open to a certain page while reminiscing about one of my children-~ The book fell to the ground, still open to the page Mew had found, ~-then _hypothetically_, I suppose I wouldn't be doing anything wrong.~

Eve hurried over to the book, picked it up, and looked at the open pages. The text was all written in unown-script language, so there was now way for Eve to read it; however, on the left page was an ornate picture of what appeared to be a small, low-to-the-ground pokémon, with shrubby leaves and pink flowers on its back.

Whatever it was, Eve had never seen it before. But just below the picture, there was what appeared to be one word of unown-script. Eve made it out to read 'shaymin'.

"Shaymin?" Eve said aloud. "I've never heard of it… But I bet Cynthia has! I'll have to go ask her! With the war over now, I don't really have to hide anymore… Keep a low profile, yes. But at least I don't think Lance will bother me now, even if he finds out I'm talking with Cynthia or learns where I am."

~So should we go now? Do you know where to find this person?~

~I know her phone number, at least. I can talk to her,~ Eve said, naturally switching back to pokémon speech. ~But for now, let's head back to where Hope is. Next thing I want to do is talk to Suicune; I want her to know I'm still fine after meeting Giratina. She's probably worrying about me.~

* * *

So... Pretty much all of the myth/history in my chapter is exactly how I wrote it way back when I was writing the outline for this story. Essentially, it sort of partly came about because of my love for Mew (in the general sense, not really the Mew of the story). Because Mew is supposed to be the ancestor of ALL pokémon. But then Arceus came into the picture and screwed stuff up. So I tried to keep it in line with both of those things, while adding in the truth of the myths that drive this story.

Speaking of the driving myths, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that originally, Giratina (or, for that matter, Shaymin and the last as of yet unknown pokémon) weren't going to be the guardians of the fragments. I was going to base them around the five towers of Johto and Kanto: Burned Tower, Bellow Tower, Pokémon Tower, Sprout Tower, and (funnily enough) Goldenrod Radio Tower (since there is an enigmatic tower mentioned in the game that supposedly stood where the radio tower now stands... I always wondered why Lugia would drop her Silver Wing at the top of the new radio tower when it was built, so I was going to explain that... But that's all beside the point now.). Anyway, my real life friend (who helped me come up with Brian as a character) talked me out of it, so you can thank him for me not having any fakemon in this fix (as justifiable as I think I could have made them... Since they would have been so hidden that no one in the pokémon universe would know about them). ^_^

Anyway, I suppose all that doesn't matter now... I just wanted to mention it. Thanks for reading! Sorry if this was sort of a short chapter!


	50. Coming Together

**Chapter Fifty: Coming Together**

"Hello? Is this Cynthia?" Eve asked tentatively through the receiver of the pay phone, desperately hoping that she had the phone number right.

To her relief, Cynthia's voice answered, "Yes, this is. May I ask who is calling, and how you have my cell number?"

_She can't recognize my voice… It's still pretty different from what it was, I guess. _"It's Eve. I was wanting to ask you something."

"Eve! Where have you been! I heard you appeared in the middle of that battle, and then you disappeared again!" Cynthia said. "I was so worried about you! I was there at that battle, and I saw the commotion and tried to get close, but the chaos of the battle was too much for me to navigate. Are you all right? Where are you? And you're talking again! That's great news!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eve said before Cynthia could rush into some other train of thought. "I'm in Violet City right now, on a public phone. I was hoping that you could answer a myth question for me."

There was a pause, as if Cynthia had calmed and was trying to figure out how to deal with this surprising situation. Then she said, "Of course, but Eve – you really must get somewhere safe. Just because the war is over doesn't mean everything is fine. As we suspected, plenty of the most highly ranked Rockets used their resources to escape, and no doubt you're a prime target for them and every single other criminal in the world who has heard about your abilities. It's no longer a secret. So long as you're in hiding from everyone, we'll have no idea if you're okay or not. And-"

Cynthia broke off as a louder voice made itself known at wherever she was. This was followed by a slight scuffling noise, and then a new voice practically blasted out Eve's eardrums. "Eve! What took you so long to call!" Jenna said. "I heard about how you pretty much kidnapped Hope straight from the battlefield – awesome job! Couldn't have done it better myself! Well, actually, I could've, but that's beside the point. Why're you calling old Miss Fuddy-Duddy and not me? I need some excitement now that the war is over! I'm coming to help you!"

Eve winced. While Jenna was literally the strongest ally Eve could have, she nonetheless scared Eve sometimes. Eve hadn't exactly wanted to bring her along. "Er, sure. But first I have to talk to Cynthia. She's my best bet for finding the next pokémon."

"Of course! So does that mean you found the one you needed Hope for? That death one?" Jenna asked.

"Yep," Eve said, with mixed feelings of pride and disappointment. Sure, she'd found Giratina, but what had come of it? She'd never have the feather until Hope died, and yet she wanted it so badly.

"Well, here's Cynthia again anyway. Figure out where your next pokémon is, then I'll meet you there!"

There was the scuffling sound from the other end of the line again, and then Cynthia's voice once again came through the earpiece of the phone. "Eve, I heard what Jenna was saying, and I'm not sure I can help you. I told you a long time ago that I couldn't think of anything concerning the other qualities you listed off – you have Life and Purpose to go, correct? Anyway, even if I could, I wouldn't. Quite frankly, I think you've been through a lot, and I'm afraid that your view of the world may have been skewed from the very beginning. There are problems with the world, of course, but not enough to bring about the sort of change that you seem like you're trying to begin."

"Please, Cynthia, I need your help. You don't understand. I've even-" Eve lowered her voice, so as not to be overheard. "I've even met Mew, and she agrees with me. I can make the world better. Besides, all I need you to do is tell me all you know about a certain pokémon. If you don't tell me, then I'll just look it up myself; I'm sure I can find something. I think its name is Shaymin."

Eve heard a sigh through the phone. Perhaps the mention of Mew's approval was enough to bring her around, or maybe upon hearing Shaymin's name she'd realized that it would be easy enough for Eve to find out something about the pokémon on her own. Either way, she went on to say, "I wouldn't know anything about Shaymin, except for the fact that it's another Sinnoh legend. More of a folk myth than anything, told most frequently around Floaroma Town. It's supposed to be the gratitude pokemon. If you bring a special flower from Floaroma to the pokémon's shrine, it's said to bring good luck to you concerning whatever you're grateful for."

"Where's the shrine?"

"I don't think any of the texts I've read revealed the location," Cynthia said. "I tried asking locals, but the ones I spoke with didn't know what I was talking about. Perhaps one or two keep the tradition, but if so, I couldn't find them."

Eve scowled. She'd been all over Sinnoh looking for Giratina; how could she have missed another legend during all that searching? Maybe despite the legends, Shaymin's place of summoning wasn't in Sinnoh itself? Regardless, this was the best lead she had. The least she could do was check out Floaroma. "Thanks for the information. Tell Jenna that if she really insists on coming along, she can meet me at Floaroma. Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes?" Cynthia asked heavily, as if she already felt guilty about revealing any information that would aid Eve.

"Do you know where Katsu is?"

"Don't tell me you're going to drag more people into this," Cynthia said.

"I have to," Eve replied. "Just like I dragged Jenna and Mark and Hope into it. So please, won't you just tell me?"

Another sigh came through the phone. "I don't believe he ever reported back to the warfront. The war ended quickly enough that he was still on his two week leave; I'd assume he's with his family in Violet City."

"Thanks," Eve said, glad to hear that he was probably just a short walk away. If Eve remembered correctly, she was maybe nine or ten blocks away from where he lived. "Really, thank you. This is something I have to do… I'm just sorry you feel guilty about helping.

Cynthia seemed to relent. "You're a kind person, and I trust your judgment well enough, I suppose. Just be careful. And if it comes down to it, just remember that not all humans are like Team Rocket."

"I will. Thank you."

"Good bye, then."

"See you sometime later, I hope."

Eve hung up the phone and stepped out of the grimy phone booth and onto the sidewalk outside. Some people milled about here and there, going to and from whatever their business was; she was in the downtown area of the small city, and it was lunchtime, after all.

Now that she had accomplished that task of calling Cynthia, she needed to find Katsu. Though the Katsu she'd first known would never have been qualified to meet the pokémon of Life, Eve got the feeling that the Katsu of now might just be the one to summon Shaymin. Ever since the gyarados incident, Katsu had changed. Cynthia had called Shaymin the gratitude pokémon, and it seemed to Eve like that was exactly what Katsu had gained: gratitude. He appreciated everything more since that violent night, and Eve guessed that the war might have impressed that appreciation even more firmly into his mind. He no longer took life for granted, that was certainly true; no one could after going through those long months of war.

So she set off in the direction that Eve knew he lived. But after nearly an hour of wandering so many similar looking streets trying to find the right house, Eve realized that she had no idea which house was his. Her sense of direction in cities had always felt skewed, and this was doubly true in the twisty streets of residential neighborhoods.

Eve was just about ready to give up when she heard a front door open somewhere behind her and a voice call out, "Eve? Is that you?"

She turned to see Katsu in the doorway, and only now did she recognize the house; Katsu had shown her it once before, way back when they'd first met each other. "Hey Katsu!" Eve said as she jogged up to him, relieved to have finally found him. "I've been looking for you, but I kind of forgot where exactly you lived."

"I'm just glad you're all right!" Katsu said as she walked up to the door. "After you showed up at that battle, I was worried that the other side would track you down and capture you again. When they surrendered it made me a bit more optimistic that you were still fine, but still, it's great to see you."

"Yep, I'm fine," Eve said. "Mind if I come in? I'm kind of tired after looking for your house for so long."

Katsu laughed a little as he stepped aside to let Eve in. "You know, it's kind of funny – you go out and meet all these pokémon that no one even thought existed, and then you come to a small city like Violet and you can't even find your way around."

Eve blushed slightly, but smiled as well. But as she stepped inside and took off her shoes, another familiar voice said, "Eve? No way – what are you doing here?"

To Eve's surprise – though perhaps she shouldn't have been so shocked – Brian had just got up from a chair in the living room that adjoined the entryway. "Brian? Why are you at Katsu's house?"

"We were talking," Katsu explained. "Even with the war over, we didn't want to fall out of touch."

Eve recalled that the two had got along rather well from the first time they'd met, before Brian had even known that she and Katsu were acquaintances; and while Brian had more or less been stuck at the Indigo Plateau, he and Katsu had gotten along well, always talking about some aspect of politics or religion. Katsu had never struck Eve as a very opinionated person, but around Brian, he seemed absolutely engrossed in the workings of the world.

"Now I might want to ask you the same question," Brian said. "Why're you here? Not that I'm not happy to see you and all, but it's definitely a surprise."

A child's shriek came from another room in the house, causing Eve to pause and look in the direction of its source.

Katsu grinned sheepishly. "Those are my little siblings. My mom went out to the store for a bit, so I'm keeping an eye on them. The screaming is a good sign – if it goes quiet, that's when I start to get worried."

"Anyway, my question?" Brian prompted.

Eve turned to Katsu. "Actually, I came to see if you'd be willing to go with me as I search for the next pokémon of legend. The pokémon of Life. I already have a good lead – I know its name, at least."

"But why me?"

Eve thought back, trying to remember how much he knew about the legends. "Well, I needed Mark for Unity, Jenna for Power, and Hope for Death… You're the person I know who best represents life, I think. Remember when I was almost captured a second time? Lance wanted to give the guy the death penalty, but you still defended him and convinced Lance not to."

Katsu's fists clenched at the memory. "Sometimes, I wish I hadn't stepped in. But I did. It just seemed wrong to kill him, you know? He already couldn't do any more harm, since we'd caught him."

"That's why I think you'd work for summoning Shaymin, the pokémon of Life. So, are you up for it?"

"I don't know…" Katsu said. "I know monks and others who are devout followers of the Order of Life. They'd probably be better than me. For the longest time, I hardly even thought about the importance of life."

"But you think about it now," Brian interjected.

"And besides, I don't know that I can trust some random person, even if you vouch for whoever it is as the perfect nice and life-respecting person. They'd all be strangers to me, and…" Eve trailed off, not saying what both Brian and Katsu guessed: she still wasn't at all comfortable around humans she didn't know.

Katsu ran his hand through his messy blond hair. "I was really looking forward to just being at home for a while, with the war finally over. But if you really think you need me there, then I guess I won't refuse. It's not every day that I get a chance to meet a living legend – well, not counting you, Eve."

Eve smiled slightly, taking the comment as a compliment.

"Anyway, I need to call someone really quick, before I really commit. I'll be right back," Katsu said before slipping off into another room.

Eve looked questioningly over to Brian, wondering who Katsu would be calling. Brian simply shrugged, then moved on to another subject. "Are there any worries about this pokémon being anything like Ho-Oh? I know your public story was that he was testing you, but Hope always said that he went all out to kill you. Speaking of which, where is Hope?"

"She's out training. Didn't want to bother coming into town with me," Eve replied. "And as far as danger… Well, this is the pokémon of _Life_, and it looks about as small and as unthreatening as a cleffa. I don't think it'll give us trouble. But… I am kind of worried about humans still. All day I've had the feeling that someone's been following me. I'm worried someone might try something if they recognize me."

Brian scowled. "That's not good. I'm sure the Rocket refugees would love to get their hands on you. Some black market evolutions could easily give them enough money to start a whole new crime syndicate. I wonder… Would you like me to come along with you? The more eyes on the lookout and the more pokémon ready to help you, the better."

"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you," Eve said, glad for the offer of help but sincerely not wanting to impose on any more people than was necessary. "Jenna decided to invite herself along, so I'll have plenty of firepower along. Besides, what happened to the changes you wanted to make to the law of the land? Surely you'd have the best luck acting now, while the laws of the land are yet to be rewritten."

"I only wish," Brian said ruefully. "Sadly, I get the feeling that Lance will send me to jail for treason if I act up too soon for his liking. I admittedly had a hand in starting the New Republic's efforts, though I figure I made up for it by betraying them at a later time. Since I would be useless if I got sent to jail, it's all I can do to wait out this transition period. You can bet that as soon as it's over, I'll be campaigning as hard as ever for the changes I want. My point is, I have nothing to do now, and I figure helping you is the least I can do, especially after… Well, you know. It was all partly my fault."

The memory of it made goosebumps rise on her arms. "You didn't mean for it to happen. You don't have to try to make up for it."

"But I want to," Brian insisted. "Surely one more person will help your search, won't it?"

Eve relented. "All right, that's true. I still don't know where Shaymin is… We're going to have to do a lot of asking around at Floaroma Town, which is where we need to go. And I can't really help in case someone recognizes me – though so far, my hair change has worked perfectly – and Hope can't really help, either."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's just-"

A knock sounded at the door, and Katsu's voice (accompanied by his hurried footsteps) suddenly shouted, "Don't get it! I've got it!"

He rushed up to the door, opened it, and in another moment Eve found herself swept up in a hug. She froze, fear rising in her throat from the contact; the person felt the tension and quickly backed away, and Eve got her first look at the surprise visitor.

"Mark?" she asked. Today was just full of surprises. She'd only been planning on talking to Cynthia, and yet she'd spoken with Jenna, too; she'd only been planning on seeing Katsu, yet here both Brian and Mark.

"I've been so worried about you," Mark said seriously, sounding more sincere than any of the previous people who'd mentioned their worry to Eve today.

_He really was truly worried. We both were, in fact,_ Tim added. _For your own sake as well as Mark's, I do wish you'd be a little less reckless. Mark nearly had a heart attack when he heard that you and Suicune had dashed into the middle of one of the largest battles of the war. _

Katsu suddenly spoke up, ruining the warm and fuzzy moment that would have been warmer and fuzzier had Eve actually been able to hug Mark back. "You know, Mark, I was kind of perplexed when you hung up before I could tell you my address. Now I'm just kind of creeped out that you knew where I live."

Mark grinned slightly, but didn't explain how he had known where Katsu's house was.

"Wait, Katsu, you were calling… Mark?" Eve asked.

The grin left Mark's face. "You didn't want to see me?"

Eve furiously shook her head. "No, no, it's not that! But I'm trying to keep as low a profile as possible, and I was really only planning on taking Katsu and Hope along, but-"

"Taking them along? To where?" Mark asked.

"I guess you didn't quite let me get that far when I was talking to you over the phone," Katsu said. "Eve's continuing to look for all those legendary pokémon… No one's really explained the details of it to me before. I just know the general stuff. Anyway, I somehow guessed that Eve hadn't talked to you at all for a while-" he glanced mischievously over at Eve, who refused to meet his eyes, "-and I knew you'd want to see her before she went off anywhere else, so I thought I'd give you a call."

Eve wasn't sure whether to be angry at Katsu, or happy. She was glad to see Mark, but on that same note… She also didn't want to see him. Now more than ever, things were awkward between them. It'd been that way ever since she came back so changed after her time as Team Rocket's captive. She knew he still liked her, and he knew that she wasn't truly comfortable around any human, including him. Eve got the feeling that she never could be; even something so simple as a hug filled her with terror. Moreover, he had been overly protective during the weeks she'd been at the Indigo Plateau, as if he blamed himself for her capture. She didn't want that. She couldn't just hide away from the world. She had to find the legends that guarded the last two fragments of existence.

"I'm glad you did call me," Mark said before turning back to Eve. "And Eve… Can't you reconsider? You've been through enough. You don't have to keep searching for these pokémon. What if you meet that electric bird that helped Ho-Oh, the one that Lugia told us about?"

"I already did," Eve said, looking down at the ground. She felt as if he was treating her like a little kid, and some part of her automatically felt ashamed at being chided in such a way. "It wasn't really an electric bird… But that's beside the point. She didn't hurt me. And even if any of the last two hate me, I still have to do this."

Even with her head down, Eve could feel his blind eyes drilling into her. "Then I'll come with you."

Katsu saw that Mark was getting overly agitated and Eve was far from happy about the situation, and so he spoke up. "Mark, you know you can't do that. I'm sorry if I got your hopes up calling you here – I don't know what you were expecting – but you're too involved with the rebuilding of the government. You're one of the few voices of reason, and you're certainly the only one there with any mind for how government _really_ works, as opposed to just how campaigning and public opinion work. If these talks fall apart, so does all of Johto. If things are mishandled, we'll end up with another civil war. You're needed here."

"But Eve needs-"

"A protector? Guards?" Eve suddenly spoke up, but quietly. "My pokémon are strong. Pebble evolved, you know. Thistle still gets stronger by the day. Aiden will never leave my side, Blight can be by my side without anyone knowing it, and Hannah never ceases to amaze me with the strategies she can come up with. They'll be with me. Jenna will be with me. Katsu and Hope will be there, and Brian wants to come along as well. I'll be fine, I promise."

"So two out of your four human friends are former Team Rocket members," Mark said bitterly. "Sounds like a solid team."

Brian stepped forward. "I take offense to that. I've owned up to my crimes, and am doing what I can to atone. Hope likewise tried to atone in her own way, I think. The New Republic would have won and you never would have gotten to see Eve again if she hadn't helped. Or have you forgotten that already?"

Mark's unseeing eyes met Brian's. As always was the case before the war, Mark's face betrayed none of his emotion; perhaps with the stress of the war over, he was returning to more of his usual self. Then, in another moment, he had vanished. Eve got the feeling that Tim had wanted to get his trainer out of there before the emotions behind his blank expression got too out of control.

"I think I'd better go, too," Eve said tentatively. "If you're both still interested in helping, then please meet me at Floaroma Town in Sinnoh. Talk to Jenna – I'm sure she's got the resources and the money to get you guys over there as well as herself, even on such short notice. I've flown over the place before – there's a big flower field north of town. I'll meet you there in the morning, the day after tomorrow. Sound good?"

"But how are you and Hope going to get there? Why don't we all just take the plane there together?" Katsu asked.

Eve smiled slightly as she opened the door and walked partway outside. "I have my ways, and they don't involve being canned in with a bunch of humans I don't know. See you at Floaroma in two days!"

She shut the door behind her, and walked back over to the street, ready to stroll back to the downtown area and from there, get her bearings enough to remember where Hope and Mew would be waiting for her. But a sudden crunching noise from the direction of Katsu's house made her turn, paranoia creeping in. Dense bushes surrounded the house, and as she peered closely at them as she tried to guess what had caused the sound, a meowth suddenly slunk out from beneath one.

Eve relaxed slightly, but nonetheless decided to switch her travel plans. She grabbed one of her pokéballs, let out Pebble, and got on his back.

_Even if it is more conspicuous this way, at least I don't have to worry about someone following me. Even just the thought gives me the shivers._

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Hey, you guys made it!" Eve said excitedly as she ran up to meet them, struggling to not trip over the wirelike roots of some of the flowers that absolutely blanketed the field. Eve's excitement wasn't purely out of gladness to see Katsu and Brian waiting for her on the far north end of the field; it was more due to the fact that she felt she'd be able to make some more progress on her Shaymin search today. Hope slowly walked up to the group, not in nearly so much of a rush as Eve. While Eve was still waiting for Hope to catch up, she looked back to Brian and Katsu and asked, "But hey, wait – where's Jenna?"

Both Brian and Katsu suddenly looked glum. "Multiple organ failure," Katsu explained. "Came out of nowhere, apparently. She's still alive, but even someone as strong as her will take a while to recover. She can't even live if she's taken off her machines right now."

_Except it didn't come out of nowhere, did it? _Eve thought sadly._ She told me about what Palkia's power did to her body. Too bad Ho-Oh couldn't help her… But now that I think about it, Shaymin is the pokémon of Life! Maybe it can help!_

That just made finding Shaymin all the more urgent. "We can't dwell on that right now, then. Knowing Jenna, she'll be fine," Eve said confidently. Jenna wouldn't let something as trivial as organ failure take her down. After all, not even the god of space could defeat her. "I need you two to ask around town for anyone who knows myths. Check the library, too. We need to find out anything anyone knows about Shaymin, and a shrine that was supposedly dedicated to Shaymin."

"What about you and Hope?" Brian asked.

"Well… Neither of us are all that great around people, if you haven't noticed," Eve said. "And while I might go unnoticed in a crowd, if I started talking to people, they might recognize me. If you guys don't mind, we'll stay here and train. That's what we did all yesterday."

"_All_ yesterday?" Brian asked. "How did you get here that fast? Did you take a plane right after we talked with you?"

"I already told you that I wasn't taking a plane," Eve said cryptically. "But I did leave right after I talked to you. Hope and I got here that evening. Anyway, I guess Hope _could _come with you, too, if I gave her my hat… But still, she doesn't strike me as much of a researcher."

"I'd prefer to be training," Hope added, speaking for the first time since reaching the small group. A strange note had entered her voice, a note that only Eve noticed; yet like with all the minute, brief moments of expressiveness Hope had, it was difficult to say exactly what feeling was stirring within her.

Katsu scowled. "If you gave her your hat? But… Wait, you have a feather now, too, Hope?"

"It's a long story," Eve said. "Giratina was less than cooperative. Anyway, I'm sorry to push all the boring, awkward work of myth researching on you guys, but will you?"

"Of course," Brian said, pushing aside his own surprise at Hope's feather. "Katsu, let's go."

The two boys left, leaving Hope and Eve alone in the midst of the knee-high sea of flower. Or, rather, almost alone; soon after the boys were out of sight, a sandshrew suddenly burrowed its way to the surface right between Hope and Eve.

~Well, what're we doing now?~ Mew-sandshrew asked.

Eve shrugged. "Just training some more, I guess. You're welcome to follow the guys around if you want, though it's probably best if they don't know it. Or you can do whatever you want. We're pretty much stuck at this town until we find out where Shaymin is. Of course, you _could_ just tell us."

~Nope nope nope!~ Mew said as she lowered her sandshrew body back into the ground, so that only her head poked up above the dirt and roots. ~I guess I'll go wander for a while! See you later!~

The sandshrew delved back into the darkness, finally leaving Hope and Eve alone.

"So… Want to train in the forest, like yesterday?" Eve asked as she reached for her pokéballs and let out her pokémon one by one. "Allows for more use of the environment."

Hope let out her own pokémon as well. "Let's stay here."

"I guess we're far enough away from town that we won't draw attention to ourselves, so that's fine. Shall we start off with a battle again?"

Hope nodded.

Eve looked around at her pokémon. "Who wants to go first?"

To no one's surprise, Hannah volunteered.

Hope chose her luxio as her first pokémon. Eve didn't know much about it – she remembered seeing the poor, heartbroken pokémon after the gyarados massacre, and she remembered Hope catching it. Other than that, they'd never really talked or battled.

That matchup lasted ten minutes or so, with Luxio ending up on top; he was a naturally good fighter, and Hope's own training with him had added to his strength. The battle went on to the matchup of Spinarak and Blight, with Blight as the winner; and then on to Thistle versus Houndoom, with Thistle just barely managing to come out on top, thanks to her aerial skills, size, and type advantage.

They were in the middle of the next round of the match – Pebble versus Sneasel – when Aiden suddenly began growling. Eve called for a pause of the round (to which Sneasel only grudgingly obliged), then asked what was wrong.

~Someone's coming. Humans, crawling through the flowers. Do you see them, there?~

Eve followed his gaze, but could see nothing; if they were moving, Eve still wouldn't have been able to see them, due to the wind that was creating waves on the flowery surface of the meadow.

"How many?" Eve asked.

~I can smell at least eight. There might be more. All the aromas from the flowers make it hard to tell.~

Eve continued to stare out across the meadow, searching for the slightest out of place movement of stems. ~Blight, why don't you give them a little scare?~

Blight disappeared. ~I'd be more than happy to.~

In another moment, a man in his twenties suddenly jumped up from the field maybe thirty feet ahead of Eve's gaze. Others soon followed suit, more out of resignation to the fact that their cover had been blown than due to Blight's efforts. There were ten in all.

Both Eve's and Hope's pokémon instinctively surrounded their two humans as the men – all in their twenties and thirties – fanned out, in turn surrounding the pokémon.

"We don't mean you no trouble, little girl," said a man in front of Hope. "We just want your friend there. Return your pokémon and we'll leave you alone." The men were already letting out their own pokémon, two for each of them. As far as Eve could judge, most were relatively low level, though they did in fact have five evolved pokémon among them.

Terror filled Eve's heart, not necessarily due to any sort of certainty of demise. Though she and Hope were outnumbered, the men were clearly outmatched. Even with some of their pokémon injured from their unfinished battle, there was a good chance that she and Hope could make it out of this. But the fact that they were humans, and they were coming for her – that thought filled her with dread. And what if they did catch her? Would she end back up in the hands of the remnants of Team Rocket? Or maybe some even worse group would get a hold of her?

Hope didn't return her pokémon as the man had suggested. Instead, she turned to the one thing she did best: battle.

"Everyone, attack."

Hope's pokémon leapt forward towards the pokémon in front of them, and Eve's pokémon quickly followed suit. The battle quickly devolved into chaos, though somehow Eve's and Hope's pokémon managed to maintain the circle around their trainers as they fought with tooth and claw to defend their trainers.

But though the two girls' pokémon easily had the advantage even with the two-to-one pokémon ratio, the enemy trainers were far from out of pokémon. They each sent out one or two more, and all of these they directed to get to Eve herself rather than waste time with the superior battlers.

~Eve!~ Hannah shouted as she fell back to her trainer, doing her best to keep off the new onslaught while the others still dealt with the first wave. ~You need to get on Thistle and leave! I doubt they can follow, and even if they can, they probably can't fight Thistle's power!~

Eve lashed out with her hands to keep away a spearow that had slipped past Hannah's vines, only to cry out with pain as she suddenly felt the horn of a male nidoran dig into one of her calves. The pain distracted her enough to allow spearow a chance at the crown of Eve's head, where its talons did a good bit of damage before Hannah managed to free up enough of her vines from her own battle to get both the spearow and the nidoran away.

_She's right – she and all the other pokémon are fine. They just can't keep so many pokémon away from me, and even the weakest of pokémon is strong enough to incapacitate me. _

She tried to call out to Thistle, but her head began to swim and she half fell to the ground.

~Eve! What's wrong?~ Hannah asked as she just barely kept a geodude from knocking Eve out cold with its rocky fist.

Eve found herself looking down at her calf wound; freely flowing with the blood was some oily, purplish fluid. _Nidoran are poisonous, aren't they? _Eve thought dimly. _The poison… If it's like most other poison types, then it'll wear off in maybe ten or twenty minutes. But if there's enough in my system, I might pass out any minute. And who knows what will happen in the ten or twenty minutes it takes me to wake up?_

A sudden tackle attack from a buizel knocked Eve to the ground. Distantly, she heard it's trainer yelling at it to hold her by the throat, presumably to force her own pokémon to stop battling; thankfully, Hannah knocked the threat away. But Eve knew she was more vulnerable than ever. If so much as a weedle could get past Hannah, it could reach Eve's vulnerable neck and all of Eve's pokémon would be forced to stand down.

The poison was strong enough that she knew she couldn't get up, at least not all the way. Instead, with the last bit of her energy, she blindly called out in pokémon speech, ~Pebble! Thistle! Get me and Hope out of here!~

Then she blacked out, not knowing whether or not Pebble and Thistle would even have a chance to extricate themselves from their own battles.

* * *

Fifty chapters... Wow. I'm not sure whether to be proud of myself, or angry at myself because I don't know how to write concisely.

...Aw, who am I kidding? I'm proud of it, even though I really ought to learn to cut things down. Anyway, another thing for me to be happy about: as of tomorrow, this fic will be exactly a year old on this site! ^_^ That's a year of almost completely constant updates. I think there were maybe three times where I didn't follow (or at least get close to) my Thursday deadline.

Thanks for reading!


	51. Life

**Chapter Fifty-One: Life**

~Eve! Eve, wake up already!~

A sharp, spicy aroma suddenly wafted into Eve's nose, waking her up almost immediately. She sat up and opened her eyes before she quite knew what was going on, then was promptly knocked back over as all of her pokémon practically tackled her in their relief.

All of her pokémon, that is, except for Aiden, who had his head to the ground and was rubbing his nose repeatedly with his paws. ~That smell hurts, Hannah! At least give me a warning!~

~You heard what Katsu was telling me to do just as well as I did. It's your own fault,~ Hannah defended as she and the others backed off slightly, giving Eve room to sit up.

Aiden whined. ~Well, I wasn't expecting it to be so strong.~

Eve smiled, recognizing the strong scent as the almost cinnamon-like aroma that usually came from Hannah's leaves when she was preparing herself for battle. "So, um, what exactly happened?" She asked aloud, looking up from her pokémon to Katsu, Brian and Hope, all of whom were standing just outside of the ring of Eve's concerned pokémon. "Hope… You and I were attacked by a bunch of guys? And…" she looked down at her leg, where a large, oozy-looking puncture wound remained from the battle. With another hand, she reached up to her scalp and felt the numerous shallow scratches the spearow had given her.

Hope shrugged. "I suppose they coated the nidoran's horn with extra poison. Or a sedative, maybe. You've been sleeping for hours."

"If she's been sleeping for hours, then why didn't you call us?" Katsu asked angrily. "If we'd known something was wrong, we wouldn't have kept on looking for clues in town! We could've gotten Eve to a hospital to have her checked out!"

Once again, Hope shrugged. "She seemed fine. Just unconscious."

"Anyone have any bandages?" Eve asked before Katsu could get any angrier; she guessed that he and Brian must have just returned, so they hadn't really had a chance to hear what had happened while they'd been gone. "I think I should probably at least wrap this up."

Brian dug through his bag and pulled out a bit of gauze. "There's not much there, but it should do. So what exactly happened? Was it Team Rocket?"

Eve began wrapping up her leg as she replied, "I don't know. A bunch of guys tried to sneak up on us. Their pokémon weren't that great, but they outnumbered us, and they were targeting me. At some point, I got stabbed by that nidoran and passed out soon after… Did you end up fighting everyone else after that, then, Hope?"

"Your dragonair and aerodactyl picked the two of us up before I could do anything more," Hope said, perhaps sounding a bit disappointed, as if she wished she'd been involved in the battle longer. "Once our pokémon didn't have to worry about us, they were able to go all out. The battle didn't last long after that."

"And the men?" Brian asked.

"They ran off once their pokémon had fainted," Hope replied flatly.

Katsu sat down on the ground and rubbed his forehead as if annoyed to the point of a headache. "You could have at least caught one of the men," he said. "We could have figured out how much of a risk we're at."

"It doesn't sound like Team Rocket, at the very least," Brian commented. "That's good news. Team Rocket wouldn't risk using low-level pokémon on such a high value target, even with their currently limited resources. Hopefully, these guys were just thugs who have learned not to mess around with stronger trainers."

Eve scowled as she finished off with the wrapping of her leg. "But how did they even know I was here?"

"That's what worries me," Katsu said.

"Well, there's no use dwelling on it now, is there?" Brian said. "We've just got to stay vigilant as we head off to Shaymin's shrine."

Eve suddenly brightened in spite of her injured head and leg. "Does that mean you found it?"

Brian grinned. "Yeah, it wasn't too hard. I managed to talk to an elderly woman who used to go to the shrine with her family when she was a kid. It's apparently way out east, on a secluded part of the island that houses Sinnoh's Victory Road and Pokémon League."

"That's great!" Eve said, pushing herself to her feet; the leg wound made her wince, but the pain was nothing compared to her excitement. It was an irrational excitement, really, brought on by the presence of the feathers in her hair. But as always, she didn't directly notice their influence on her state of mind. As far as she knew, her excitement was her own. "You know, if we leave now, we would-"

"Not be able to make it there before nightfall," Katsu finished for her. "Have you taken a look at how late it is? You've been asleep for a while. An hour or two more and it'll be dark out. Unless you're going to reveal your method for fast, airline-less travel, we need to stay here for tonight."

Eve slumped a little. She knew that Mew didn't want her secret to be revealed to just anyone. She wouldn't have even revealed herself in front of Hope had it not been completely necessary at the time.

Brian, however, wasn't completely in agreement with the idea of staying put. "You're right that we can't make it by nightfall," Brian said, "but staying in the same place where Eve has already been found is not a good plan. Let's fly for a while, then camp where no one will find us. I can ride my skarmory. Can Thistle and Pebble manage everyone else, Eve?"

"They don't have to," Katsu said. "I've got my tropius, remember? He's not the fastest, but he can manage one person without too much of a slow down."

"And Thistle can carry Hope and I," Eve said. "Pebble, you're welcome to fly along with us, but you aren't exactly the fastest when it comes to carrying someone and long distance flying. Sorry."

Pebble, who was coiled up and resting nearby, cracked open an eye. ~I'm good with staying in my pokéball. I know well enough that I wouldn't be able to keep up with actual flying pokémon.~

"Should we go now, then?" Katsu asked.

Eve shook her head. "Wait a minute, please! I have to find someone and let her know that we're going."

Katsu's brows knitted together in confusion. "Someone? Who?"

"Just a pokémon friend of mine. She told me this morning that she'd come back later, and-"

~Now I'm back!~ Eve heard Mew say as the ground shifted slightly beneath her feet, throwing her off balance. This time, a drilbur's head popped out of the ground.

Eve caught her balance and, with joking anger, said, "Sheesh! You just like trying to make me fall down, don't you!"

Mew-drilbur jumped out of her hole. ~I must admit, it's sort of funny to watch! So, what's been up with you?~

Ignorant of Mew's words and actual identity, Katsu asked, "So this is your friend?"

The drilbur form dissolved into the pink blob of a ditto as Eve explained, "Yeah, she's a ditto I met a while back." For some reason, Eve had no qualms about this lie; perhaps this was partly because Eve still thought of Mew as the ditto she had first met. Turning back to Mew, Eve said, "We found where we need to go, so we're going to fly part of the way there tonight. You coming?"

~Of course I'm coming! I haven't seen dear Shaymin in years! He's always been one of the nicest of all of the first eggs I laid – gives me a flower every time I visit him. You two will get along well. But hey, what happened to your leg?~

"This? It's a long story. I'll tell you on the way," Eve said, smiling at what Mew had said about Shaymin. This was the first time Mew had commented on Shaymin's personality, and it relieved Eve to know for sure that the legend she was heading towards now wasn't going to try to kill her or anything.

A couple of red flashes indicated that Hope was putting her pokémon away. "Are we leaving now, then?" she asked.

Eve followed suit and withdrew her own pokémon except for Thistle. "I'm good to go."

Two more flashes later, Brian's skarmory and Katsu's tropius were out of their pokéballs. Eve didn't know either pokémon well. Skarmory she'd only ever seen in that battle with Brian that took place months ago, before the war. As for Katsu's tropius, she'd never so much as seen him, nonetheless spoken with him.

Without any further ado, Brian climbed onto his skarmory's back. Katsu, Hope, and Eve followed his lead, and then the four humans were off as the sun slowly sunk in the sky behind them.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So this is it?" Eve asked as she stared at the large white boulder that sat in front of her, its color making it almost glow, even in the light of the midday sun. It was covered in words, written in a variety of mediums – pen, faded paint and the like. Many were carved into the rock itself.

Brian wiped some sweat from his brow. "Doesn't seem like much, does it?" he asked. "But this is definitely the place the lady was talking about. She said that anyone who comes is supposed to write on it the name of something they're grateful for."

"So what do we do now?" Katsu asked. "Just wait for Shaymin to appear?"

Eve shook her head. "I need to focus on summoning it. If you represent life enough, then it ought to show itself."

"And if I don't represent life?"

"Then I'll have to come back some other time, with someone else," Eve said. "But hopefully, we won't have to bother about that. I have a feeling things will turn out well, even if this spot is… underwhelming, at best. Nothing like the homes of the other legends I've met."

~Appearances can be deceiving,~ Mew said, still in the form of a ditto.

"What if this isn't actually the right place?" Brian said. "It could just be a shrine, unrelated to where Shaymin actually lives."

Eve frowned. "I don't know. It doesn't feel like any of the other places – at the homes of the previous three, it always felt energized. This place seems practically dead." She looked around, seeing the bare, grassless ground and the plain face of the rock. "It's not even like Sprout Tower. Yet it still seems like there's something here."

~Oh, just try your summoning already!~ Mew said. ~I'm getting bored, and I miss dear little Shaymin!~

~So are you saying this is definitely the place?~ Eve replied, crouching down next to the pink blob so that Katsu, Brian, and Hope could see that she was talking to the pokémon, even though they couldn't hear the conversation.

The ditto body wiggled uncomfortably. ~Well, yes. I still feel bad about helping you out like this, since I practically showed you where Shaymin is… But as long as we're here, hurry up! For springtime, it's absolutely baking out here! If I sat on that rock, I bet my adorably pink gelatinous body would fry like an egg!~

Eve smiled, stood up, and faced the rock. ~It is rather hot out here… Guess I might as well hurry. I'm as excited to meet Shaymin as you are to see him again, I should think.~

~That's just the feathers in your hair talking for you, though he is admittedly a sweetie,~ Mew said.

"I don't mean to interrupt if you two are still talking," Katsu said, "but do I need to do anything?"

Eve dropped her gaze from the rock in front of her and spied a sharp-looking white stone fragment on the ground. "No, you're fine," Eve said as she picked it up. "As I said, I just need to focus on summoning him. But since I don't have my pokéflute anymore, I figure that doing the shrine's little ritual ought to work just as well."

"So what are you going to write?" Hope uncharacteristically asked, though such interest in things other than battling seemed to be becoming less rare by the day.

"I'm not sure," Eve said, scowling as she thought about it. The word 'friends' immediately came to mind, since that blanketed almost everything that she was most grateful about. Her pokémon, the humans that were with her now… Even her family, whom she hadn't spoken with in weeks. All were extremely important to her, and though she felt that it wasn't terribly original (she saw the same word scribbled on multiple different places on the white boulder), it was certainly no less heartfelt.

So, slowly but surely, she scratched the word onto the surface of the rock. It took her a few long, hot minutes, and the end product was hardly legible; yet as she finished the very last bit of the 's', something began to happen. The rock began to glow with a light of its own, in a moment reaching an intensity that would have blinded all four humans had they not had the sense to close their eyes and turn their faces away.

"Woah," Katsu said when the light had faded and he opened his eyes, prompting everyone else to do the same.

"This little plateau was bare just a moment ago, wasn't it?" Brian said, blinking as he tried to get his eyes to adjust.

His confusion was understandable. The group now found themselves in a field of flowers, taller, healthier, and more vibrant than even the flower meadow near Floaroma Town.

~Hey, I can't see it from down here!~ Mew said from near Eve's feet, completely hidden beneath the heads of a cluster of large, yellow flowers.

Eve – still in awe herself of the sudden change – bent down, fished around with her hands a little bit, then managed to find and pick up the pink blob of smiling genetic goo. ~You could have just transformed to see it, you know,~ Eve commented, looking at all the flowers.

~But that wouldn't be normal for a ditto,~ Mew said. ~Anyway, you're not even looking at the most spectacular part. Look that way!~ The ditto body extended a vaguely limb-shaped part of itself to point off north, towards the empty sea – except the sea there wasn't empty now. A thin pathway had somehow appeared, splitting the waters. The flower-covered path extended into the distance so far that Eve couldn't pick out its end, despite the fact that no obstacles impeded her view.

Eve unconsciously stepped up to the edge of the path, drawing everyone's attention to the newly-formed land. Katsu walked up beside her and whistled appreciatively. "Is that where this Shaymin is, then?" he asked.

"Yes," Eve said, no doubt in her mind. Now that this place was filled with life, it was also filled with an even stronger version of the sensation Eve had experienced in Sprout Tower.

"Then it looks like we have quite a ways to go, even if we fly," Katsu said. "Mind if I join you on Thistle? As much as I love Tropius, he's doesn't have Thistle's speed."

Eve lifted Mew-ditto up to her shoulder, where she stayed while Eve reached into her hip pouch for Thistle's pokéball.

As soon as she had let the giant prehistoric flying-type out of her pokéball, Eve said, "I know you've already flown plenty today, but mind taking Katsu and I up that way?"

Thistle flapped her wings excitedly, half flattening the flowers with wind for a few moments. ~I'm as energetic as ever! A nice flight over the ocean should be fine!~

~Well, there's no need for her to carry both you and Katsu!~ Mew said as she suddenly sprung off of Eve's shoulder, in mid air changing shape until she looked identical to Thistle. ~I haven't had a good fly in a while, especially not as an aerodactyl!~

Eve smiled at Katsu, who was initially stunned at Mew's sudden transformation. Of course, he knew what a ditto was capable of; he just hadn't seen this 'ditto' as anything else other than some small pokémon, and he hadn't been ready for this particularly dramatic morph.

"I guess Ditto wants to take you, to spread out the burden a bit," Eve said, her excitement mounting as she climbed atop Thistle. "So, ready to fly?"

Katsu climbed onto the pseudo-aerodactyl's back. Eve grinned at the irony – if he only knew who the ditto _really _was, perhaps _he'd_ be the one offering to carry _her_ (in a smaller form, of course), and not the other way around. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Katsu said, choosing to sit behind the spike on the aerodactyl's back so as to have something to grab onto.

Mew suddenly launched up from the ground, with Katsu barely hanging on in his surprise. Not to be outdone, Thistle followed suit by spiraling through the air as she flew straight upwards, which was a difficult stunt for any flying pokémon, nonetheless one so bulky as an aerodactyl. Thankfully for Eve, she had felt Thistle tense beneath her and had tightly wrapped her arms around her neck before takeoff.

~Thistle! What are you doing!~ Eve said as Thistle reached the peak of her climb before swooping down to surpass Mew, who was already flying maybe twenty feet above the path.

A shriek of delight came from Thistle. ~I've never gotten to see another aerodactyl, nonetheless fly with one!~ she said enthusiastically, acting like the four-month-old that she was. ~And the only time I've gotten to fly with someone my size was back when Flame was teaching me! It's a lot of fun!~

As they flew, Eve thought back to all those months ago when Flame, Jenna's charizard, had been helping Thistle learn to fly. Now, being in the air with her as she challenged herself to outdo Mew (who, much to Katsu's chagrin, was playing along with the flying competition), it was easy for Eve to see just how much the aerodactyl had improved. She had a maneuverability and skill that belied her size.

~So where exactly are we going?~ Thistle asked as she pulled out of a loop, after over thirty minutes of flying interspersed with stunts.

Struggling to keep down her lunch, Eve replied, ~I'm not sure where we'll end up. All I know is that it's at the end of this path. So could we focus on that, with less of the stomach-flipping tricks?~

~Okay, okay. Just one more thing I want to show Mew.~ Thistle climbed in the air once more, then suddenly folded her wings and began a corkscrew dive, falling faster and faster until she opened her wings just before they could hit the water. As soon as Eve's head stopped spinning, she found herself so close the water that spray from large waves was actually managing to dampen her face.

~Nice one!~ Mew said as she sped up until she was flying right beside Thistle. ~Of course, I mastered that one back a couple thousand years ago, but it's impressive for one so young! I've never seen an aerodactyl with such a knack of acrobatics!~

Thistle practically glowed with happiness. In a sense, Eve couldn't help but think that Mew was acting as the mother that Thistle had never had – after all, Thistle knew well enough that Mew was the ancestor of all pokémon, and thus an ancestor of herself as well, despite the fact that she was part of an extinct species.

Katsu, of course, caught none of the heartwarming implications, seeing as any warm fuzzy feeling that he might have had was being promptly vomited out over the side of his own ride. He looked up at Eve, wiped his mouth, and smiled weakly before shouting over to her, "Maybe we should have just ridden Aiden! On straight, flat land, he's pretty fast, isn't he?"

Eve smiled back, her stomach a bit stronger thanks to her large amount of experience flying around on Thistle, though admittedly she'd never been through a flying routine as rigorous as this. "I think a calming walk back would be a good idea, once we're done with Shaymin!"

~I take that as an insult to my flying skills!~ Mew said with play indignation. ~I've had hundreds and hundreds of years of flying experience! That's probably the smoothest flying this human will ever get!~

~Smoothness doesn't matter if you and Thistle are going so fast that you turn left while our poor human stomachs still think we're going right!~ Eve countered, though her own queasiness had subsided a bit now that they were staying on a steady flight path.

~If that's how you feel, I guess your poor stomachs can have a break. After all, we're here!~ Mew said, flying over to the path and following it for a few more seconds before landing at a spot where it expanded into a small, flower-covered island. Thistle landed just beside her, and Katsu and Eve gratefully dismounted.

However, as soon as they were on the ground, they realized that this place was surprisingly… empty. Neither spoke at first, but they looked at each other questioningly. Only flowers were here – no hulking forms like Giratina, Lugia, or Ho-Oh. Admittedly, Shaymin was supposed to be pretty small, but as far as either of the humans could tell, he just plain wasn't there.

"Um, Shaymin?" Eve asked tentatively.

~Yes, yes, I'm down here!~ A voice said as a tiny, almost squeaking noise came from somewhere in the flowers. ~I just dozed off for a bit waiting for you! Sorry about that!~

Eve bent down until her head was submerged beneath the waste-high ocean of flowers, then looked around. There, coming towards her, was what essentially looked like a small walking bush, complete with flowers.

"You're Shaymin, right?" Eve asked as Katsu bent down as well; he was followed shortly by Mew (who transformed into a ditto to make things easy), and even Thistle, who laid her head all the way on the ground to see what was happening.

~Yeah, that's me!~ Shaymin said. ~And if my eyes don't deceive me, you've brought Mew with you! I haven't seen you in so long, mother!~

Mew transformed into a replica of Shaymin, then trotted over and affectionately rubbed noses with him. ~Oh, don't bother with that mother silliness. I've hardly existed for any longer than you've been alive. Besides, Mew is so much cuter to say than being called, 'mother'!~

~But it seems wrong for me not to give credit where credit is due!~ Shaymin argued. ~People don't call me the gratitude pokémon for nothing!~

~Then listen to what your mother tells you to do and just call me Mew!~ Mew retorted cheerfully; it seemed to Eve like this was somewhat of a rehearsed argument, as if they'd had the same discussion numerous times before.

~Oh, very well, _Mew_,~ Shaymin said, not at all dismayed by being forced to give in. Then, with that conversation ended, Shaymin turned to Eve. ~And you and your friend would be…?~

Eve dropped from her crouch into a sitting position to make herself more comfortable. Somehow, just being around such a cheery pokémon made Eve relax. "I'm Eve," Eve said aloud, for Katsu's benefit. "And this is Katsu."

Katsu nodded his head in a sort of mini-bow as he sat down next to Eve. "It's an honor to meet you, Shaymin."

~Likewise, likewise!~ Shaymin said. ~And Eve, apologize for your friend to me that I can't speak with him directly. I've never been quite as good with telepathy as some of Mew's other children.~ Eve conveyed the apology before Shaymin continued, ~Now, of course, most of my business is with you, so it's not as if I have much of a need to talk to him. Not that I wouldn't love to, of course! But he was only needed so that the path leading to me could appear. He didn't even need to come all this way – although of course I'm glad he did! I don't get many visitors, you know, and-~

~Shaymin dear, you're getting off track!~ Mew said. ~Weren't you talking with the last not-human for over an hour before you finally gave him what he came for?~

Shaymin's little white face seemed to blush, and he curled up to the point where he seemed almost entirely a bush. ~I suppose that did happen, centuries and centuries ago… But before him, it'd been so long since the last not-human that I just had to have a chat! It's been getting harder and harder for me to leave the island without humans spying me, you know. I may be small, but humans know a remarkable pokémon when they see one!~

~Still getting off-track, Shaymin,~ Mew reminded him, though she seemed altogether unsurprised by the little pokémon's rambling.

~Oh, yes, that's right! So sorry, Eve!~ Shaymin said, turning back to the not-human in question. ~I suppose you're here for my fragment, right? And it looks like you've got two so far, and – wait – do you have Giratina's as well? I don't see it, but surely you've spoken with her, haven't you? And if you've spoken with her, then she must have given you her fragment.~

Eve a hand through her hair absentmindedly. "Not exactly," she said. "Giratina and I spoke, but she gave the fragment to someone else. The only way I can get it is if… Um…" Eve hesitated, realizing that Katsu hadn't heard this bit of the story yet.

Shaymin's cheery mood seemed to fade for a moment. ~I think I understand.~ Then, cheering up again, she said, ~But we just have to make the best of it, don't we? I know you'll think of some way around that problem. Coincidentally, that's what my fragment is all about! Just like Death is about appreciating the fact that everything ends, Life is all about appreciating that fact that everything that hasn't ended still is here, and that we still have a countless number of things to be thankful even when we think we've lost hope! Your friend Katsu must understand that, otherwise we wouldn't be talking right now. I bet he wouldn't even wish his worst enemy dead. And that's a good thing! Because snuffing out a candle that gives off an evil light doesn't get rid of the dark – it just makes it worse. Everything has its good in it, you know, some part of it that can be appreciated. As soon as you know that, it really makes the world quite a wonderful place, because you can just think about how many great candles there are lighting it! And-~

~Shaymin…~ Mew spoke up. ~The fragment?~

~Oh, yes, of course,~ Shaymin said. ~Here it is, Eve. Do you want another feather to match those other ones in your hair? No, never mind me asking, of course you do! Except I don't think I'd be too terribly great at making feathers, so I'll give you the next best thing!~ A petal floated off from one of the pink flowers on either side of Shaymin's head, then drifted between the stems of the flowers and into Eve's hair, where it securely fastened itself directly into Eve scalp. ~There you go! It looks perfect! So are you off to find the last of my counterparts?~

"Yes, actually, I am," Eve said as she reached up to finger the flower petal; it was extremely soft beneath Eve's fingertips, and the feel of it relaxed her just like Shaymin's cheerful attitude. "Would you tell me anything about that pokémon?" And, consciously switching to pokémon speech so Katsu couldn't hear, she added, ~Mew is reluctant to tell me anything.~

~More than just reluctant!~ Mew insisted. ~No more help from me, period! Arceus is understanding, but he'll still be irritated at me for doing this much!~

Shaymin casually moved between the stems before coming upon and curiously sniffing the fallen head of a flower. ~I'm afraid Mew's right about that. I'm really not supposed to say anything,~ Shaymin said, still putting all visible focus into the matter of the flower.

"I'd really appreciate it if you bent the rules just this once," Eve said.

A little pleased quiver ran through the leaves of Shaymin's bush-like body as Eve said this, and he said in reply, ~Well, you know how I like people to appreciate things! If it'd really make you grateful, then I'd be more than happy to help out in one way! You see, Arceus doesn't want me telling you anything about where or who the others are – though of course the ones you've already met are free game for conversation – but anyway, for one you haven't met, I don't see anything wrong with telling you about his personality! That'd be okay, right Mew?~

Mew thought about it for a moment, then said, ~Sure, I don't think Arceus would have any issues with that. His rules are just there so that no single not-human can have an easy job of collecting the very fragments of existence.~

~Okay then! Here's what I'll tell you, Eve," Shaymin said. "Unlike Giratina, the pokémon of Purpose doesn't have a sadistic streak. However, like Giratina, he puts a strong emphasis on the importance of his particular fragment before anything else. If he sees a chance to let someone grow in any aspect related to purpose – determination, motivation, stuff like that – then he'll utilize that chance. He's a kind enough pokémon in all other respects, and he doesn't enjoy seeing others in pain, so you ought to get along with him. At the least, you'll get along with him better than I assume you got along Ho-Oh. Just be careful that you know exactly why you're looking for all the fragments, and how far you'll go to actually get them all. For him, it might not be enough for you to say that Fate is calling you, or that you won't do anything and everything in your power to achieve your goals. Does that help at all?~

"Um, yes," Eve said hesitantly. "I'm grateful for the information."

The flowers and leaves on Shaymin seemed to wilt a bit. ~Are you sure? You don't seem very grateful… Did I say something wrong?~

"No, no, it's not that! But based on what you said, I'm just a little bit worried about that pokémon," Eve said. Of course, she had thought about why she wanted to gain all the fragments, but was that truly what was driving her anymore? Lately, she felt more instinct than motivation in her search, and she barely even thought about what she was going to do with her newfound power, should she attain it. And how far would she go? In all truth, seeing this last pokémon wouldn't end with Eve possessing all the fragments; there was still the matter of the one that had been given to Hope. _What will I possibly do if the pokémon of Purpose challenges me to show how committed I am? I can't kill Hope. I won't. _

~Oh, I see…~ Shaymin said, not very cheered by Eve's reassurance. ~I didn't mean to worry you more…~

"No, it's fine! Really!" Eve said, this time with meaning. "I'm glad to have some forewarning. This way I can prepare for it. I just need to appreciate all the good parts of this situation now, right? Even though I know the bad parts too?"

Shaymin practically jumped off the ground in happiness. ~Yeah, that's exactly it! That's what my fragment is all about!~

~Well, if you'll excuse us, Shaymin, we'll be going,~ Mew said, stepping back a ways before once again transforming into an aerodactyl.

~That's too bad,~ Shaymin said. ~Still, it's been terrific meeting you all! Or seeing you again, in Mew's case. And good luck with your journey, Eve!~

"Thank you, Shaymin!" Eve said as she stood up. However, she promptly sat down again as a thought came to her mind. "Oh, one more thing, please! I need to ask you something!"

Shaymin, who had turned around to head back to the heart of his flower island, now turned back around. ~Yes? What is it?~

Eve brushed a flower petal or two off of her shirt nervously, not knowing how to say this. "Well, it's just that I have a friend who I think could use your help. She was the one who came with me to see Ho-Oh, and she was hoping that he could use his regenerative fires to cure the constant, life-threatening problems she received as a result of saving the world. Ho-Oh refused, so she goes uncured… Is there any way you could help her?"

~Hmm… I don't do stuff like this often, but it's not completely out of the question, either,~ Shaymin said. ~Why don't you tell her to come by here as soon as she can? Of course, the path leading here will be submerged again, so she'll need to find the island on her own. I won't guarantee that I'll heal her, but I'll give her a chance to see if she deserves it.~

"Um, just as a warning, I'm not sure how she'll react if you don't immediately give her the cure she wants," Eve said. "She – Jenna – likes to battle as a resolution to anything that conflicts with her interest. And her pokémon are strong."

~Don't worry about that! I've got a trick or two up my leaves that will keep me safe and sound,~ Shaymin said. ~Although I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to tell her that battling won't help her prove whether she deserves to be healed or not.~

Eve smiled as she started to stand up again. "I'll make sure to tell her. And thank you!"

~Anytime! Good luck finding the last fragment!~

"Thanks again!" Eve said as she stood.

Katsu had been standing since the first goodbye, and he met Eve's gaze once she was above the flowers. "You know, Jenna scares me, but I'm glad she has a chance to be cured. So she really has all those health problems because she saved the world? Why doesn't she tell anybody?"

"I'll probably be in trouble for even letting you know, Katsu," Eve said. "She just doesn't want other people's pity. I guess Palkia's space-warping abilities had a bad effect on her body."

Katsu shrugged. "I won't let her know that I know, so don't worry about that. Anyway…" he glanced over at the two waiting aerodactyls, then said, "Could we _please _ride by arcanine-back this time?"

~Hey, no fair! We'll be good this time!~ Thistle said.

Eve grabbed a pokéball from her pouch and called out Aiden. "Sorry, Thistle, but you lost your chance. You can still follow us in the air, if you want."

Thistle let out a sort of mumbling growl. ~Fine. Mew, will you still fly with me?~

~Sure! It's a lot more fun than running!~

The two aerodactyls both took off, leaving Katsu looking questioningly at Eve. "Wasn't the ditto going to change into an arcanine for me to ride?"

"Guess flying is a bit more fun," Eve said casually as she climbed to the base of Aiden's neck. "Don't worry, Aiden can easily carry both of us. Unless you'd prefer to ride your tropius, but even in the air he'd still be slower than Aiden on a straight, flat run like this. So...?"

"Riding with you it is, then," Katsu said, a friendly smile on his face. "But we can't let Mark find out."

"Why can't we… Oh, yeah. Guess we can't," Eve said, blushing, as Katsu climbed up behind her. Though Katsu did the chivalrous thing by grabbing on to the fur right in front of him rather than doing the logical thing of holding onto Eve herself, it would still be an awkward situation to explain to Mark, even though the circumstances completely allowed it.

As Aiden set off down the path of flowers, Eve ever so slightly shook her head, a bemused smile on her face. _Humans… Even after all that's happened, I still can't understand them at times._

* * *

Get it? "I have a trick or two _up my leaves?" _Instead of sleeves? Because Shaymin is a walking flower bush! Hahaha... haha... Ah, I crack myself up. (Okay, it wasn't really funny, but I did think it was kind of witty. ^_^)

So, not the most exciting of chapters... Next chapter might not be, either. But after that... It'll be intense. However, I might miss an update or two in the coming weeks - I'm starting my freshman year of college, and so I'll be getting ready to leave, moving in, and getting adjusted to college life. It'll be crazy. And aside from that, I've been so lazy about writing this that it just seems less than likely that it'll get done. But I promise I'll try!

Thanks for reading!


	52. Looking Within

**Chapter Fifty-Two: Looking Within**

"What do you mean, you want us to leave?" Brian asked. "I'm certainly more than willing to help you look for the last fragment, and I'm sure Katsu is, too."

"Of course I'm willing to help!" Katsu said as he absently tried to flatten his wind-styled hair against his head; he'd been trying and failing for the last ten minutes, ever since he and Eve had returned the white rock.

Eve's hair was even messier than Katsu's after their ride back on Aiden, but she paid it no mind as she replied, "I'm glad to hear that you're still willing to help, because I'll need it. But not right now. Look, if I remember correctly, Sunnyshore City is just an hour or so south of here, if you fly. You can make it there before the sun sets. Just grab a hotel room and wait a couple days, or else grab a flight home and wait for me to call you."

"And what exactly are you going to be doing that we can't help you with?" Katsu asked.

~That's what I'd like to know,~ Hannah said. She and all of Eve's other pokémon were currently out of their pokeballs, since Eve figured they might as well know what was going on. ~The more help, the better, in my opinion. I don't want us falling into another ambush without backup.~

~Oh, I won't be alone. I'm letting Hope come, since she already knows who Mew is anyway,~ Eve said in pokémon speech to Hannah, and then in human language she answered Katsu, "Now that I have three of the fragments – and I mean _really _have them, since Hope's feather isn't really helping at all yet – I feel like I just _might_ be able to find the general location of the last fragment. Maybe. I need to at least try, but it's going to take some long, long hours of searching. Who knows what region it might be in, after all?"

Brian frowned. "Just hours and hours for possibly searching all of the regions? Not days or weeks? That seems like an under exaggeration. Does this have something to do with your secret method of transportation again?"

Eve nodded, though as she did so the method of transportation in question wiggled her gooey pink body uncomfortably. ~I don't know about this… I think I'm about done helping, Eve. The guilt is starting to catch up with me. Poor Arceus will be _so_ upset with me. It's been fun, of course, and I've enjoyed helping you, but… I think maybe my help has gone far enough.~

~Oh, please don't back out on me now!~ Eve said, looking to the ditto to show to the humans that another part of the conversation was going on, unheard by their ears. ~I mean, I don't want to force you into anything… I'm already ecstatic that you helped me find Shaymin. And it's not like I'm asking you to show me the way or anything – I'm just asking you to do what any dragonite could do. I'll be the one finding the way. If you could just put up with me pointing you in one direction or another for a couple days, then I promise I won't ask you for anything else.~

Mew seemed to melt slightly in the ditto equivalent of a sigh. ~That's fine, I suppose. But after that, I think I'll let you figure the rest of everything out on your own while I go back to my usual wandering. That way, there's no way Arceus can blame me for helping out any more than I already have.~

Eve slumped slight. ~Well, I'll be sorry to see you go.~

~I'll be sorry to see me go, too. I haven't had this much fun watching humans – or watching anyone, for that matter – in a couple decades,~ Mew said. Then, cheering, she added, ~But at least it shouldn't be for too long. Only one more missing fragment, and who knows? Maybe you'll figure out a way to get the feather out of your human friend's hair. Just because I can't think of a way to do it, doesn't mean it can't be done. And once you have all of them and summon Arceus, you can bet I'll be around!~

Brian cleared his throat, and Eve looked up at him as he said, "Mind if I interrupt?"

"Oh, yeah, we were pretty much done, anyway," Eve said.

"I just want to say this – Katsu and I can't stop you if you're wanting to go off by yourself again. Or, not quite by yourself, I suppose," he said as he looked off in the direction where Hope was training; she hadn't wanted to bother with the details of what the group was doing next. "But as soon as you have a lead and know where you're going to end up, then call us. Neither of us is going to like waiting around while you search the world."

Eve smiled. "It'll be the first thing I do, once I figure stuff out," she assured him. "After all, I won't be able to do anything until you show up."

Brian's brows momentarily knitted together in a scowl, and then understanding dawned on his face as he said, "Do you mean to say-"

"-that you're the person I need to summon the pokémon of Purpose?" Eve finished, grinning. "Yes, I think you're exactly the person. I still don't really agree with your political philosophies, even now that you aren't doing them with Team Rocket's more malicious backing… But even so, there's no doubting you're committed to getting your ideas to affect the world."

Brian half-smiled back, but mostly his face housed surprise. "I'm honored you'd trust me with the responsibility."

Katsu chuckled a bit. "No need to be so serious about it, Brian."

"You didn't think it was an honor when Eve asked you?" Brian countered, perhaps slightly embarrassed.

Katsu shrugged and smiled at Eve. "Sure I was. But I'm just saying that she wouldn't have even let you come along if she didn't trust you already. Right, Eve?"

"Um, of course," Eve said, blushing slightly. She was telling the truth; it was just awkward to say such things aloud.

Brian perhaps saw her embarrassment and decided that the conversation had gone on for long enough. "Katsu and I should best be going if we want to make it to Sunnyshore by dusk," he said as he pulled out a pokéball, let out his skarmory and got on the metal bird's back. "You coming, Katsu?"

"Go on without me. I'll catch up in a couple minutes," Katsu said.

Brian frowned momentarily, wondering what Katsu was up to; however, he didn't press the issue, and in another moment he and his skarmory were flying south.

Eve frowned as Brian left, just as puzzled as he had been. "Did you want to talk to me about something, Katsu?"

"Yeah," Katsu confirmed. "I was just wondering… During your talk with Shaymin, there was something you weren't saying… At least, you weren't saying it so I could hear. What exactly is it that you have to do to get Hope's feather?"

Eve's breath caught in her throat. Of course, Katsu wouldn't make a big deal about it. He would know that no matter how desperate Eve got to finish her quest, she would never do anything as terrible as what Giratina was apparently trying to bait her to do. Still, it wasn't something that was easily said aloud, even to a good friend like Katsu.

Seeing her reluctance, Katsu prompted, "If you don't tell me, I'll ask Hope. I'm sure she won't mind telling."

Eve sighed. "It's just- I'm not sure how to say this, but- well, Giratina made it so that I can't get the fragment of Death until Hope, um… Well, until she dies."

For a moment, Katsu's mouth literally dropped open. "But… What? Why? Did it, did Giratina _want _you to try to get Hope killed? Or just make it impossible for you to finish what you're trying to do?"

"I don't know," Eve said, rubbing her temples. To be honest, Giratina's stipulation had been weighing heavily on Eve's mind, especially in the short time since she had acquired the Life fragment from Shaymin. "Giratina said I didn't understand Death, and so she wouldn't give it to me."

"So what are you going to do? You know, when we find that last fragment?"

Eve shook her head. "I don't know. Just wait, I guess… And maybe never get the chance to finish what I've started. Or maybe I'll look for some way around Giratina's condition. What other choice do I have?"

Katsu let his tropius out of its pokeball and climbed onto his back. "I don't know." He lightly kicked the tropius with his feet, and in a couple powerful flaps of his leafy wings, Katsu and his tropius took off to join Brian and his skarmory.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

~Okay, turn around, we're going back to whatever continent we just left,~ Eve said, tapping Mew-dragonite's hard hide. ~It was hard to tell for sure at first, but I definitely feel like going this way is wrong. So it's gotta be somewhere back there… It's not a great lead, but at least I know the continent.~

~You sure?~ Mew asked. ~We've been searching for three days now… It'd be a shame for all this searching to go to waste with a wrong guess. And as I said, as soon as I drop you off, I'm leaving you to your own devices.~

Eve scowled. ~Are you saying that I'm wrong? But I'm pretty sure-~

~I'm not saying that,~ Mew said, a mischievous tone in her voice as she banked, turning until they were heading back towards the last landmass they had passed. Eve felt Hope shift slightly behind her, at first sliding almost as if she would fall; unlike Eve, she had no idea what was being said, and therefore could not have expected the sudden turn. Mew continued, ~Personally, I'd say it's a decent guess, if that's what your instinct is telling you. A pokémon's instinct is never wrong.~

Eve guessed that this was Mew's way of confirming her guess while leaving wiggle room for interpretation, so that Arceus couldn't blame her. After all, Eve wasn't technically a pokémon, and so Mew could just as well be saying that her instinct could be wrong.

They flew on in silence for a while before land came back into sight. And as they neared the shore to land, Eve said, ~So this is it, Mew? You're really set on leaving?~

~For now, at least. But don't worry! As I said before, we'll see each other again once you get all the fragments!~ Mew said. ~Maybe even before then. I don't see any problem coming to see you again, just as soon as there's no way I can help you cheat your way to another fragment. Once you have this fragment, I'll probably at least visit, even if you can't get Hope's fragment.~

Mew descended to the ground with gentleness surprising for a pokémon as large as a dragonite. Eve shakily got off – she'd barely had any chance to stretch her legs these past few days, due to how hard she had pushed herself in this search. Hope jumped off as well, but if her legs were sore, she didn't show it.

~Mew? Can I ask you one more thing before you go?~ Eve said, her feet sinking into the sand of the beach Mew had landed at.

The dragonite body tilted its head inquisitively as Mew looked down at Eve. ~Of course. Anything. Doesn't mean I'll answer, though.~

~Why don't you use your true shape more often, when there aren't humans around?~ Eve asked. ~I still only ever saw you as yourself when you were angry at Giratina.~

A deep, rumbling hum came from the dragonite's belly in Mew's version of a laugh. Then, she quickly shrunk and changed until she was once again the tiny pink floating creature that Eve had seen in the cave. ~My dear Eve, this form is no more my true self than any other pokémon's form. If anything, I am defined more by who my children are than who I first was. Is that all you needed to ask?~

Eve nodded, a smile on her face. "You know, when you first met me in your ditto form, you said you wanted to hear my voice. And then later, you brought me to Suicune, which helped me to learn to let myself speak again. You've done a lot for me besides just that, but if there's anything I've gotta be thankful for, it's being able to talk again. So thanks! And I'll do my best to find this last pokémon soon, so that you and me and all my pokémon can play again soon. That sound like a plan?"

~Indeed it does! And I'll hold you to it, too!~ Mew said cheerfully. ~Until then, stay safe!~ Mew's body suddenly shifted into that of a hovering tailow, and in a moment she was flying out over the sea. And then, her body undulated once again, and a small carvanha was diving into the ocean, with what could only be a grin plastered on her toothy face.

Eve watched the waves from the carvanha's splash dwindle to nothing in the wake of the larger, stronger surf that surged towards the beach. Once no more could be seen to indicate that the mother of all pokémon had ever been present, Eve put her hands on her hips and looked around. She couldn't dwell on her friend's departure. The pressure seemed to be mounting, and Eve felt like she could waste not a moment on anything else other than the task at hand.

There were bottles and other trash items washing up with the surf; Eve guessed there had to be some sort of city nearby. Sure enough, when Eve looked around, she could just barely see the skyline of some coastal city to the southeast of her. Since it was still early afternoon, Eve figured that she'd have time to reach at least some suburb of the apparently large city. And as soon as she did that, she could figure out what region this was and call Katsu and Mark, so they could make their way here as soon as possible.

Eve let Blight out of her pokéball, wanting an extra set of eyes around – preferably a set that could go undetected if any humans caught she and Hope by surprise. She'd had too many incidents in the past to take things lightly anymore.

"Blight, stay invisible, please," Eve said as she started walking down the beach, towards the distant city. Hope followed. "You're lookout for today. Got it?"

Blight grinned, and then her gaseous body faded into nothingness. ~Sounds good to me,~ her disembodied voice replied.

Hope suddenly spoke up, surprising Eve; she'd barely heard her talk at all these past days, outside of the training they did whenever they'd landed to rest and eat. "Where are we going now?"

"I'm not sure," Eve said. "That city up there, I guess. I just don't know where that is. Or where we are, for that matter. You have any idea?"

Hope shrugged. "I'd guess Sinnoh, maybe. Or Hoenn. Then again, we've been flying from place to place for so long that I can't say for sure."

Eve sighed, disappointed that Hope hadn't known. For all her flaws, she was intelligent, and Eve had hoped that maybe she knew enough about world geography to know where they were based on which directions they'd been flying. "Guess we'll find out up there, then."

"Why don't we fly on Thistle?" Hope asked, unusually talkative.

"Two girls on aerodactyl-back are much too strange to go unnoticed."

"Aiden, then."

Eve grinned slightly. "Do you think an arcanine is any less unusual and noticeable?"

In response, Hope smiled. It was a small smile, but for the first time that Eve could remember, it was most positively and definitely _there_, in a non-cynical way. "Guess you're right," she said as she turned to look out at the sea, that strangely friendly expression still inexplicably present on her face.

For a few moments, Eve was just sort of stunned; then a smile came over her own face.

_Maybe I'm actually about to bring on the apocalypse – this has to be the end of the world. I never thought that I'd see Hope smile. Not in a million years. _

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As it turned out, the city that Eve and Hope had found themselves near was Lilycove City, one of the largest cities in the Hoenn region. Upon arriving in the suburbs that evening, Eve and Hope checked into a small, out-of-the-way hotel, then proceeded to call Mark and Katsu. The two boys arrived by plane late the next day, and soon the two of them were hard at work searching through libraries for any scrap of a myth that might pertain to the last fragment. Occasionally, Hope helped them when she wasn't training; she had the perseverance needed for the hours of fruitless researching, which greatly sped up the task.

Meanwhile, Eve was doing the one thing that her three friends could not: scouring the land in search of even the faintest tug of the last fragment of existence. She'd done much the same in Sinnoh while looking for Giratina, and so she had the task down to almost an art. For the most part, she limited herself to flying on Thistle, though she occasionally switched to Aiden or even Pebble when Thistle grew weary.

She and her pokémon had been doing this for nearly a week when Thistle spoke up one evening, as she, Eve, and all Eve's other pokémon sat around a fire, snacking on some pecha berries that Hannah had found.

~Hey, Eve?~ The nearly five-month-old asked. ~What was it that Shaymin was saying to you when you met?~

"What do you mean?" Eve asked as she reclined against Aiden's side. "He said a lot. What in particular are you talking about?"

Thistle's tail twitched as she chewed thoughtfully on her berry. ~He said something about you needing to find your purpose. But don't you already know what that is? I mean, we wouldn't be doing all this if you didn't… Right?~

Eve took a bite out of her own berry, chewed, and swallowed before answering, "Of course I know why I'm doing this. I need to find the five fragments. We've already got four of them – now we just have to find the fifth."

This answer contented the young pokémon, but brought new questions to the mind of the oldest pokémon present. ~That is _what_ you're doing, Eve, and you know that,~ Pebble said, his deep eyes gleaming from the spot where he was coiled in front of Eve. ~You are avoiding the 'why'. Surely that doesn't mean you haven't taken Shaymin's warning seriously? You told all of us that he told you to be sure of your reasons for doing this.~

Eve looked away from his dark eyes. "Well…"

~You do know your reasons for doing this, right?~ Pebble prompted when Eve trailed off. ~This is not something to be taken lightly. You could – no, you _will_ change the world irrevocably, should you obtain all five fragments. Such power cannot simply sit without being used. And if you don't know what to do with it… Perhaps _it_ will be the one to use _you_, rather than the other way around. You must realize how important it is for you to be sure of yourself and your intentions.~

"I know, I know," Eve said, still not meeting the dragon's eyes. "And it's not like I have no idea why I'm doing it. What I wanted to do was correct the imbalance that Celebi showed me. I wanted pokémon and humans to be on more equal footing again, in a world that could support both of them with as little conflict as possible. I wanted things to go back to how they were when there weren't pokéballs, when humans truly had to befriend a pokémon in order to earn its trust."

Aiden lifted his head from his paws and looked back at Eve, concern in his gaze. ~Wanted? Not want? But isn't that what you still want now?~

Eve sighed, put her pecha berry on the ground, and put her head in her hands. "I'm not sure anymore. I feel like deep down, that's still what I want, but…"

~But what?~ Hannah asked.

Eve shook her head. "I'm just so scared of humans. It's gotten better, of course… But every time I think about making things equal, part of me is shouting at me that it can't work. It's as if Entei is in my head, roaring constantly that pokémon and humans are too different. Pokémon will always be too powerful for humans to be safe without some sort of protection. And humans will always try to manipulate pokémon to their own ends, inevitably giving them wounds that will never heal. Scarring them, like… Like…"

Blight floated forward slightly, her normally mischievous demeanor replaced by solemnity. ~Like how they scarred you?~ she said quietly, finishing what Eve had been unable to say.

Eve nodded. Then, wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked up and said, "But I don't want you all to worry about that! I'm fine, really. I just want to keep searching for this last fragment. I'm sure by the time we find it, I'll finally be sure of myself. It's fine. Really, it is."

~Except it's not fine, is it?~ Hannah said, just as quiet as Blight had been. All Eve's other pokémon looked at her with almost a grim resignation in their eyes, as if they'd done all they could to avoid this moment. ~You're not okay, Eve. You've been trying to hard to keep us from worrying. Pushing yourself to go straight from getting Giratina's fragment to Shaymin's fragment to this last one… You've barely let yourself have a break.~

"But that's just because the fragments are urging me on! It's instinct!" Eve insisted. "It's really hard to ignore."

Aiden began to make a whining noise. ~But it's not only that,~ he said. ~You have nightmares. You've had them since you got away from Team Rocket… And then they went away for a while, but now they're worse than ever. We've seen you tossing and turning at night, and, and… You cry, and you tell them not to hurt Basil, and not to hurt us, and not to hurt Suicune, and not to hurt you, and… We can never do anything about it, except nudge you enough so that the dreams will go away for a while. I hate it, Eve! I want to protect you, Eve, but I can't! Not when it's something like that!~

~We all want to protect you!~ Thistle insisted. ~But you won't let us! You keep on denying that you're even hurt!~

Tears once again began to well up in Eve's eyes. She quickly wiped them away. She hadn't realized that she'd been unconsciously revealing the turmoil of her dreaming mind. To hear it now was a shock. "I'm so sorry – I didn't want you all to worry, but now you're all worrying more than ever."

~Quit worrying about whether or not we are worried for you,~ Pebble said, a deep hum coming from his body that was both stern and comforting. ~You _must _come to terms with this. Perhaps the nightmares will always be there, and perhaps you can do nothing to stop them. But if you persist in your refusal to admit their existence to both yourself and those around you, then I fear for what will happen to your mind! You can't continue like this. You are losing sleep. Pretending that you're as fine as ever is only wearing you down more, and making the nightmares worse. It is possible that one day, you will fall asleep only to awake forever in the nightmares that plague you.~

At this comment, an image from one of Eve's many nightmares flashed vividly to her senses; it was as if she was suddenly in the scene that had haunted her for so many nights. Basil was in her arms, bloody, burned, and dying, and she was trying to hold onto him, to keep him from dying, to keep him from slipping from her grasp. But people were crowding around her, reaching for Basil, smothering her – even the slightest touch from them seemed to burn, as if they were demons, not humans. To her dreaming mind, humans and demons were the same. They were agony, suffering, loss, death, injustice, and hatred.

Then, as quickly as it had come, the vision vanished. Eve saw that her arm were crossed tightly against her body, and her fingers were digging into her arms; she tasted blood in her mouth, and she guessed that she had instinctually bit down on her tongue to keep a scream from coming out. Wordlessly, she forced herself to relax and found that she was trembling now. Still shaken up, she curled herself up against Aiden's side, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"How am I supposed to do what I know is right when my nightmares won't even leave me alone when I'm awake?" she asked. "If I get this power… How can I let humans even live, when part of me just wishes they'd all go away?"

~I ask you again, Eve,~ Pebble pressed, slithering around the fire so that he was closer to his trainer. ~Why is it that you are searching for the power? Fate calls you to it, but what will you do with it if Fate ceases to guide you? If the choice of what to do with the power is yours and yours alone, what is it that you will do?~

"I don't know!" Eve shouted, squeezing her eyes shut as she curled even closer to her arcanine. "I just don't know anymore! Sometimes I wish they'd just go away! All of them – all the humans! I can't trust any of them! I want to, but I just can't!"

"Is that really how you feel, Eve?" another human voice suddenly said, causing all of Eve's pokémon to jump in surprise; they'd been so focused on Eve that they hadn't noticed the new arrival.

At first, Eve's reaction was much more violent than that of her startled pokémon. Her mind was still halfway stuck in the waking nightmare, and the sound of a human was too much for her at the moment. She cried out for a moment and practically smothered herself against Aiden's side.

_Eve, Mark didn't mean to scare you,_ Tim said as his voice rang out through Eve's head. _Please calm down. You know we aren't here to hurt you._

Still Eve clung to Aiden's side. The shadowy people in her dream had said the same thing. They didn't want to hurt her. But they couldn't help it. It was their nature. They couldn't so much as touch her without burning her.

Eve suddenly felt Mark's hand on her shoulder, and jerked away from it; Aiden growled at Mark, perhaps venting some of his own frustration at being unable to soothe Eve's nightmares by making Mark into part of the problem.

Mark immediately withdrew his hand, though he kept his eyes trained on Eve as he sat himself down on the ground about a foot away from her. He was dangerously close to the fire, but he hardly seemed to care. "Eve, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come out of nowhere like that. But I missed you, and I wanted to see you again. I wanted to make sure you were all right. Guess I just made it worse."

He paused, and saw Eve's body relax ever so slightly. Encouraged, he continued, "I called Katsu earlier today – he told me that you all had made it to the Hoenn region, and that you were off looking for the last fragment."

_He's had me slaving away all day in order to find you, _Tim commented. _He had me teleport all the way from Johto to this continent, which is difficult even for an abra as incredible as me. And then he only gave me a short break before we started teleporting from place to place, just searching for your presence with our minds. I'm exhausted._

Once again, Eve relaxed. She still was tucked against Aiden's side, yet she no longer gripped his fur. Mark could see her back heaving up and down, as if she was crying or shakily trying to regain control of her panicked breathing.

"Eve, you can't really want us to disappear, can you?" Mark asked, though his voice was more calming than accusatory. "Me, Katsu, Brian, Hope, Jenna, Cynthia, your parents… Are you that frightened of us?"

Eve's head shook slightly back and forth.

"Then why are you wishing for us to be gone?"

Eve shook her head again, as if to contradict that she had ever made such a wish. She remained facing away from Mark, but now she was simply resting against Aiden's side, as if she were too exhausted to even keep herself upright.

Then Eve felt herself being grabbed by Mark and pulled against him in what he meant to be a comforting hug. As always, paranoia entered Eve's mind and dominated her thoughts – it wasn't Mark holding her, but someone less trusted, more harmful. He would kill her, kill Basil again, kill all of her pokémon – she couldn't let that happen. With the strength of pure terror fueling her, she pushed away with all her might.

But with a power even stronger than that of terror, Mark somehow managed to keep hold of her. Aiden leaped to his feet and growled at the distress his trainer was going through; all of her other pokémon watched tensely, part of them as angry as Aiden and while another part wondered what would happen next.

Eve's panic remained at its peak for maybe ten seconds. Then, slowly, it began to fade. Within a minute, she was no longer actively struggling against Mark. In another five minutes, she had all but collapsed in his arms, her energy absolutely drained.

Yet in that state of half-wakefulness, she realized something. His touch didn't burn. He wasn't trying to hurt her. Nothing was wrong. If anything she felt… safe. Protected. Nothing could hurt her, so long as she stayed here, in his arms. Miraculously, she trusted.

And something else filled her, too. At first she confused it with the relief of feeling safe, but she quickly realized it was something more than that. Something more than she had ever felt before. A feeling so absolutely foreign to her in this specific form that if took her a minute to realize what it could possibly be.

Then she understood. Before, she had never loved Mark. Perhaps she hadn't needed to love anyone just then. Back when she had first met him – and when _he _had most certainly fallen in love with _her _– she had liked him as a friend, and admired him for his determination and beliefs.

But now she understood why he had insisted on holding her close to him, even when an angry arcanine was just waiting for the opportune moment to attack without hurting his own trainer. She knew now why he'd been so shocked when she hadn't trusted him when he and Jenna had come to rescue her. And she also knew that, for the same reason he had did and felt those things, she could no more want him or any of her other friends gone than she could want to destroy existence entirely.

She didn't move to return his embrace upon her realization, nor did she say anything. Yet as she stayed in his arms, Mark knew what she was feeling, and he hugged her all the harder.

_Love… it's a strange thing,_ Eve thought, a tear or two of happiness trickling down her cheeks. _I didn't know that humans could communicate without words, just like pokémon can… It's nice._

Another five minutes passed, then ten. Neither pokémon nor human said a word. After nearly half an hour, Mark relaxed his grip, and Eve let herself slide to the ground beside him. She was exhausted, and so she leaned against his shoulder; Mark, in turn, put his arm around her and pulled her close. He still said nothing. Eve had her eyes closed, and perhaps he couldn't even tell if she was awake or asleep.

~Pebble, I know why I'm doing this now,~ Eve said, her eyes still closed as she reclined in Mark's grip. ~I suppose it's the same reason I originally started trying to find the fragments… Except even then, I wasn't really sure what my reasons were.~

The dragon's eyes once again glinted as he leaned across the fire, silhouetting his face as he looked closely first at Mark, and then at Eve. ~And what are your reasons?~

~It's not to bring balance, though perhaps I'll need to do that, too,~ Eve said. ~But what I really want… I want to protect all of you, like I couldn't do for Basil. All of you pokémon, and all the pokémon I've ever known. But not just them – I want Mark to always be safe. And Brian and Katsu, too. Hope, and Cynthia and Jenna, and that Rose girl who was one of my guards back at the Indigo plateau… And that other Rose I knew, the really shy, really nice girl back at Earl's pokémon academy… And everyone else who has been kind to me. I want to make a world where they can be safe. Safe from what happened to Basil… and safe from what happened to me.~

The dragonair gracefully withdrew his head from its place above the fire, then curled his body into tight coils. ~In that case, we should all get some rest. For tonight, at least, I don't think your nightmares will worry either your mind or ours.~

* * *

So, sorry about the delay... But I'm officially moved into college now! ^_^ Anyway, so far, it looks like writing is going to be one of the top things for me to do in my down time, so hopefully I won't be putting things off to the last minute as I've been tending to do...

I wrote the first half of this chapter at random times while I was distracted by other stuff, so I didn't like it as much... But for some reason, I got really worked up while writing all of that last section. Guess I just don't have enough heart-to-heart moments in this fic. And I was feeling as if Eve's pokémon had been sort of marginalized in the last few chapters, which is how all that got started... And then that happened. Pretty nice, I guess. And plus, now that Eve is all sure of herself, I need not mince words while Eve continues on with her quest! She can be sure of herself! Yay!

Thanks for reading!


	53. Purpose

**Chapter Fifty-Three: Purpose**

"This is it?" Katsu asked incredulously as he stared at the unimposing cave mouth before him. "You sure? It's not particularly impressive… or hidden. The white rock was at least out of the way. If some legend was hiding here, don't you think someone from Dewford would have already found it?"

"But it is a sort of fitting place, if you think about it," Brian said. "The waves have crashed against this cave for ages, and yet it still stands."

Katsu rolled his eyes. "Now you're just getting all poetic or something. You could say that about any seaside cave."

"I'm sure this is it," Eve said. Goosebumps were rising on her arms just from being this close to it. After searching the mainland for over two weeks with nothing to show for it, Eve had almost thought that she really had made a mistake when thinking that Hoenn was the location of this last legendary. This tiny cave on Dewford Island proved otherwise. "There's no mistake about it. The last pokémon is here."

"But just what is this pokémon?" Katsu said. "We never got any leads, did we? Even after figuring out that the pokémon is here, we still couldn't find anything. This cave is unremarkable in every way imaginable – even the locals don't have any legends about it, aside from trainers getting lost in the dark. That's hardly surprising. It's pitch black in there."

Brian crossed his arms and grinned slightly. "Well, if we get killed by this legend or get lost in the dark, then I expect you to speak at my funeral. Got it?"

Katsu half-smiled back, but his heart wasn't in it. "I'm no good at making speeches, so just make sure you come out alive. Got it?" Brian nodded. "And you too, Eve."

"Of course," Eve said, not nearly as worried as she should have been. Her instinct to find this last fragment was absolutely overpowering her; it was difficult for her to concentrate on any other thought.

She suddenly felt someone else's hand slide into her own, and she looked up to stare into Mark's eyes. As always, they were cloudy due to his blindness, yet the emotion in them was as visible as it could be. "Be careful, won't you? If something does go wrong, Tim and I will be ready to help."

Katsu saw the interlinked hands, and despite the seriousness of the situation, the half-smile on his face grew. "Woah, woah, hold up. Did something happen between you two? I was surprised enough when Mark showed up out of nowhere to help research legends, but does this mean you guys met up with each other earlier than now? Care to enlighten Brian and Hope and I, lovebirds?"

Eve blushed slightly, but Mark simply let his political mask slide into his expression as he gave Eve's hand a slight squeeze before letting go. "It's hardly anything worth mentioning," he said. "At least, not right now. So Eve, can Hope, Katsu and I follow you and Brian inside? Or do you think you have to go in there alone?"

"It might be fine for a while, but-"

"I'm sure we can handle things, Eve," Brian said. "Besides, as Katsu pointed out, it's a rather small cave. If something does happen, it might be tough for all of us to maneuver in there. Although if you can sense where we might be going, Mark, then all of us _could_ just teleport down there."

Mark shook his head. "I can believe that this is the place. The darkness isn't just the absence of visible light – my mind can't see into it at all."

_I can see a little in there,_ Tim said. _But I don't think I'd be much help. It's like my awareness is back to the level it was at before I met Mark._

Eve shrugged her shoulders. She was confident, yet also nervous. "Can't be helped, I guess. Brian, are you ready?"

"That depends. Do you even have a pokémon that knows flash? None of my pokémon do."

Eve nodded, pulled out a pokéball, and pressed the opening mechanism so that Hannah could come out.

~Huh? What's up?~ Hannah asked, looking around.

"Brian and I need you to light up that cave for us as we explore the inside. It might take a while. Can you maintain your flash for long?"

In response, the purple leaf on Hannah's head began to glow. ~In just the few seconds since you've let me out, I've gotten enough energy from the sun to keep a flash going for hours. It's not exactly a strenuous attack, especially when you just need it to glow, and not blind.~

Brian looked to Eve. "Shall we be off, then?"

Eve, in turn, looked back to Hannah. "After you, my dear bayleef."

Almost as soon as they entered the crevice-like opening, they saw that Katsu's assessment about the cave being pitch black was about as accurate as anyone could get. Even so close to the entrance, they would have been all but blind without Hannah's light.

~So what is this place, exactly?~ Hannah asked as she led the way through the large, open cavern that they first found themselves in.

"It's a cave in the Hoenn region," Eve said aloud for Brian's sake, so that he had at least some idea that a conversation was being held. "This is where the last legendary pokémon should be."

"Hey Eve," Brian interrupted before Hannah might have the chance to reply. "Would you mind if I let out one of my own pokémon in here? This place is bigger than I thought, and to be honest, I don't exactly like the fact that there's still a lot we can't see outside of the range of Hannah's light."

Hannah's leaf flashed brighter for a moment. ~Are you criticizing my illumination skills?~

Eve patted Hannah on the head, just behind the spot where her leaf sprouted and said, "It's just a big cavern, and we don't know what could be in here. You know you'd have trouble if a swarm of blood-hungry golbat came at us from beyond the range of your flash. It can't hurt to have another pokémon out."

Brian took this as his permission and let out his ursaring, the strongest of all his pokémon. Eve had tried speaking with this particular pokémon several times before, but like all of Brian's other pokémon, he was unusually reluctant to carry on much of a conversation. He quite characteristically didn't question why they were in a cave, or why he'd been let out when there was no immediate danger; he simply began to plod along behind Brian, covering the group's rear.

For a while, they continued on in silence. Eve said nothing simply because she was being so completely drawn onward by her instinct to go deeper and deeper into the darkness of the cave. Brian didn't seem to mind the silence; his mind, too, was preoccupied with exactly what was going to happen next.

Eventually, though, after maybe twenty minutes of exploring the cave – occasionally turning back whenever they hit a dead end – Brian spoke up again.

"Why is it that Hope has the fragment that you were supposed to get from Giratina?" he asked, in a tone of voice that made Eve guess that he'd been wondering about this for a while. "If you don't mind me asking, that is. I know you've been keeping it a secret, and I'm sure you've got a good reason… But if something like that could happen to me, I'd at least like to know beforehand."

Eve was thrown off a bit by the suddenness of the question, but quickly decided it was best to answer. If anyone deserved to know, it was him – after all, Shaymin had warned that the pokémon they were about to meet could be fairly eccentric concerning its particular virtue. It wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility for this pokémon to do roughly the same thing that Giratina did.

"It's not something that's exactly easy to say," Eve started. "In essence… Giratina didn't think that I understood Death, and so she refused to give the fragment to me. She gave it to Hope instead, with the condition that I couldn't get it until Hope, um… Well, until she dies."

Unlike Katsu, Brian didn't seem too surprised about this information. "I wondered whether or not it might be something bad like that. Especially since you wouldn't tell any of us what had happened with Giratina. So do you think that could happen to me, too?"

Eve shook her head. "Not the death part, at least. That was only because that was Giratina's fragment. Even if things don't go all according to plan here, I don't think it'll end up with any conditions quite as bad as that."

Brian nodded, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere. Eve got the sense that maybe he had something else that was troubling him that he wanted to say, but he was trying to come up with the right way to go about it.

Eventually, he spoke again. "Eve, before we find this pokémon… There's something I really need you to do for me."

His voice was serious enough to make Eve stop and look him in the eye; whatever he was about to say, she could tell it was very important, and that it had taken a long time for him to find the right moment to say it. "Yes?" Eve asked. "What is it?"

Brian took a deep breath, then said, "I'd like you to ask my ursaring what exactly happened to him the day I captured him."

"Wasn't that the day-"

"-my parents died?" Brian finished. "Yes, it was. Now please, just ask for me. I've always wondered why he was by himself that day."

Eve looked up to the ursaring, who was looking to his trainer for guidance. Perhaps Brian could tell that Ursaring was more than reluctant to speak, and so he encouraged him, "Go on, Ursaring. I'm prepared for the worst – you know I'm ready for it."

Wondering what exactly Brian meant by that, Eve continued to gaze at the troubled-looking Ursaring. ~Well?~ Eve asked him.

~I had wandered off from my parents earlier in the day,~ the Ursaring finally said, with much reluctancy. ~I got lost. I was newly-hatched. I didn't know what to do. I wandered around and eventually heard their voices in the distance. They were in a rage, calling out for me.~ His ears twitched once, then twice, as if he could still here their roars of rage even in this cave. ~I was scared I'd be in trouble, but even more frightened of the place I was lost in. I went towards where I heard them, but I was so focused on their voices that I didn't really realize Brian was even there until he had already caught me.~

The ursaring acted as if that was the end of the story, so Eve looked Brian in the face and said, "He was a newly-hatched teddiursa that got separated from his parents. He was trying to get back to them when you caught him."

"I see," Brian said, though some enigmatic tone of his voice told Eve that his question really hadn't been answered. "Ursaring, is there anything else? Anything at all you remember from that day?"

Ursaring seemed to get more uncomfortable at this urging but, not wanting to disobey his trainer, he said with a regretful growl, ~Right before I was caught, I heard my dad roar something. He was enraged.~

Sensing that this matter was more delicate than what had already been said, Eve switched to pokémon speech and asked, ~What is it that he said? Or could you even hear it well enough to tell?~

~Well enough? There was no mistaking it. I'm sure every pokémon on the mountain heard it… 'Humans.' That's what he was shouting.~ Eve's mouth opened slightly in horror as the ursaring continued, ~There are some things that a pokémon just knows. The moment I turned and saw the boy that was throwing a pokéball at me, I knew that his parents were the ones my parents found. And an enraged pair of ursaring searching for their cub will tear apart anything and anyone they see as a threat. My parents… They were the ones who killed Brian's mother and father, without a doubt.~

Eve looked up to Brian, the terribleness of the truth still on her face. Brian looked back at her, a sadness in his eyes. "They did it, didn't they?" Brian asked quietly. "My ursaring's parents were the ones to kill my parents, right?"

The look on Eve's face gave away the answer.

Brian sighed. "It wasn't until I was older that I put two and two together. The whole reason my parents had been there researching was to observe mated ursaring as they cared for newly-hatched cubs. The teddiursa I caught was obviously young – it had to have wandered off. His parents must have been tearing up the mountainside looking for him."

Brian's acceptance of the news helped to calm Eve; though the revelation didn't affect her directly, it had been shocking enough to leave her speechless for a bit. Though it seemed as if Brian had guessed most of the story, Eve felt obligated to explain those final details that Ursaring had provided. "Your ursaring says that he wandered off, and that he could hear his parents searching for him. Apparently… They found your parents right before you caught him."

"Thanks for asking him for me," Brian said. He started walking forward; Hannah took the hint and once again began to lead. Now, Eve followed behind Brian, watching him carefully as if she could see whether he was truly all right.

After maybe a minute, Brian spoke again, obviously still on the same topic of conversation. "That's why I'm so confident in what I strive to do. Families are literally torn apart by pokemon – you see it in the news nearly every week. Even in modern times such as ours, it always happens somewhere, to someone. Unless we make sure that humans are in control, then it will simply continue to happen. Pokémon can't control themselves. Even you've said as much."

Still looking at Brian's back, Eve said, "I respect your opinion, especially knowing what you've been through. But I know that having that much control over pokémon can't change anything. Not really, at least. It just shifts who receives the pain. If you continue with what you do, then won't you just be hurting the pokémon you try to manage?"

"If that's how you feel, then why do you even have me with you? Wouldn't you want as little to do as possible with someone who holds my opinions?"

Eve looked down to the ground and just barely managed to avoid tripping over a loose rock. "Even if I disagree with you, I still need you for this. And more importantly, you're a friend. You helped me when Team Rocket was trying to starve me to death, even though it got you hurt… I can't just forget that, you know."

Brian turned his head slightly to face Eve, a warm smile on his face. "For something as valuable as your friendship, any amount of pain was an acceptable price. Even if our opinions differ, I have to admit – you're an incredible person."

Blood rushed to Eve's face, though no one could see the blush in the semi-darkness. But before Eve could say anything in reply, Hannah said, ~Huh? What's that up there?~

"There's something up there?" Eve asked aloud, looking forward; despite the touching conversation of just a moment ago, her mind easily refocused on the task at hand.

The group felt the rock beneath their feet slope gently upward as they came closer and closer to what at first had seemed to be a glow in the darkness ahead of them; as they finally reached the glow, they realized that it was nothing more than a big, very pale rock, reflecting the light that came from Hannah's head leaf.

"I've never even heard of an everstone deposit this large," Brian said, looking at the rock closely.

~Everstone?~ Hannah asked. ~What's that?~

Eve repeated the question, just as clueless as Hannah.

"It's a rare type of mineral, though not very sought after," Brian said. "As far as anyone can tell, its only application is to keep pokémon who hold it from evolving."

~Keep from evolving? I can barely believe that,~ Hannah said. ~When I evolved, it didn't really seem like a choice. Even if I'd wanted to, I doubt I could have stopped it. How could a little stone have that much of an effect?~

Hannah's words sparked an idea in Eve's mind. ~So you're saying that it would take a very strong will and a lot of determination to stop evolution?~

~At the very least, if it's even possible.~

A sad little smile came to Eve's lips as she said under her breath, "Basil… he did it, didn't he? He kept from evolving twice, until he felt it was the proper time."

"What was that?" Brian asked.

Eve shook her head, as if ridding her mind of the sorrow. "It's nothing. I just think that this might be the spot." Eve placed both hands on the stone and felt energy flow through her. "Now if I can just concentr-"

But she already had been concentrating; with her instinct driving her on, it was hard for her to think of anything else _other _than summoning whatever pokémon was here. What had interrupted her was an exceedingly strange sensation beneath her fingers, as well as a sudden ringing sound. All of a sudden, the stone beneath her hands wasn't stone; it was crystal. And in that crystal was… something. Eve couldn't tell exactly what. It looked almost like a pokémon of some kind, but the refractions of the crystal made it difficult to say for sure.

Eve promptly removed her hands from the top of the boulder of crystal when she saw that thing inside seemed to be rising upwards. In a matter of seconds, the thing had phased through the top of the crystal, and there it floated in the air just above its previous cocoon.

Now that it was completely unobscured by the crystal, Eve was sure that this small, white-and-yellow being was a pokémon. Its relatively tiny body seemed to be covered in some sort of yellow cloth, so that only it's relatively large head could be seen. Its face was white with small blue markings just beneath its closed eyes, and three yellow protrusions stuck out from the top and sides, each with a blue tag hanging from its tip. It looked somehow familiar to Eve, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it reminded her of.

While Eve, Hannah, Brian and Ursaring were all still staring at the floating pokémon, the folds of the yellow cloth loosened and fell so that they hung from the pokémon's upper back, revealing a small humanoid body with a curved line on its stomach. Then the pokémon finally opened its eyes and looked from Brian to Eve.

_It's been a long time since anyone's awoken me,_ the pokémon said, his voice ringing out in the minds of the pokémon and humans present.

Now that the pokémon had fully revealed itself, Eve realized why he looked o familiar. "You're Jirachi, aren't you?" she asked.

The little pokémon smiled. _Indeed I am. I'd thought humans had completely forgotten about me. How is it that you know my name?_

"We haven't completely forgotten," Eve explained. "When I was a kid, I had a picture book that said that anyone could wish on stars, because there was always a chance that the star was actually Jirachi. And if you chose the right star, then your wish would come true." Eve paused, then said, "I suppose that's kind of silly, but-"

_No need to worry if it's silly or not, _Jirachi said kindly. _So they call me a wishing pokémon? I suppose that's not far from the truth. A wish is nothing more than a strong desire. And if that desire is strong enough, it can motivate anyone to turn that wish into reality. You already understand that I am the pokémon of Purpose, I see – otherwise you would not have brought such a perfect candidate to wake me. _

At this, she turned to Brian and locked eyes with him. _However, I see that there is still one more thing that you have as of yet hesitated to do in pursuit of your goals. Until you go through with it, I cannot give your friend the fragment of Purpose that she seeks. Either follow through now, or come back once you have._

Eve looked to Brian, confused. "What's Jirachi talking about?" _If Brian's goal is to make sure that humans are in control of pokémon, then what could he do about that here? Unless… _Eve let her glance shift to the ursaring that stood just behind Brian. _Surely… The only thing I can think of is that he feels like he has to kill his ursaring, since he now knows it comes from a family of killers, and thus is unsafe to be around humans. But that doesn't seem quite in line with Brian's beliefs, either – as long as pokémon are under humans' control, he thinks they're safe. So what, then?_

Brian rubbed his forehead with one hand, as if trying to purge whatever thoughts were going through his mind. "It's nothing, really. It's more about me coming to terms with something than anything else. I think… I think what Jirachi means is that I just really have to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. Is that right?"

Jirachi continued to look to Brian, but he said nothing in response to the human's question.

"Well, whether I'm right or not, I might as well try. I just really have to think about it. Hannah, do you think you could turn off the light for a moment? It'll help me think if I can just forget about what's around me."

~Eve?~ Hannah asked, waiting to see what Eve thought of this idea.

Eve looked at Brian, trying to figure out just what he was thinking. But he was still the same, indecipherable Brian that Eve had first met. Back when he'd campaigned, he'd been genuinely kind one moment, then convincingly cruel the next. Though they'd been friends for several months now, Eve still could never tell exactly what was going through his mind.

"You're not about to do something drastic, are you?" Eve asked tentatively. "I want the fragment badly, but I don't want you doing something that you'll regret later. I'm not that desperate."

Brian turned to Eve and smiled, his whole demeanor suddenly more assuring than it had been a moment ago. "Really, Eve, don't worry about it," Brian insisted. "Just give me a moment to think – you'll have this fragment in no time."

Eve smiled back, then gave Hannah the go ahead to cut the light. The group was suddenly plunged into complete darkness; Eve doubted that even Blight would be able to see in such conditions. Eve suddenly became more alert to the sounds around her. Somewhere at the edge of the cavern, she heard the flutter of a zubat's wings; a bit nearer, she heard a sound not unlike that of metal on rock, and guessed that a steel-type was nearby. The heavy breathing of the ursaring was loud in her ears, nearly covering up the small noises that she and Hannah made whenever they shifted their weight or turned towards a noise that had startled them.

Brian made small noises, too. A rustle of fabric told Eve that he'd somewhat shifted position – perhaps he'd sat down, though it still seemed as if he was standing. The slight sound of a step a moment later confirmed that he was still upright.

_What could he possibly be thinking? _Eve wondered. _What's so important to his goal that he needs to figure it out within himself before Jirachi is willing to give up the fragment? Maybe-_

The touch of a hand on Eve's shoulder roused her from her mind's wanderings. She was about to ask what Brian was doing when suddenly, pain lanced through her shoulder. She yelped in pain as her opposite hand instinctively reached up to the source; something sharp sliced open her palm, and she felt blood from both her hand and her shoulder begin to run down her arm.

~Eve!~ Hannah called out, immediately lighting up the room again when she heard Eve's exclamation at the pain and smelt blood in the air.

Before either Hannah or Eve quite knew what was happening, Eve felt the knife pulled from her shoulder and sensed its tip at her neck, and Hannah found herself being picked up and thrown away by Brian's powerful ursaring. The light that came from the bayleef's leaf dimmed momentarily, then grew bright once again as she got to her feet and readied herself for battle.

Brian and Eve were both still standing before Jirachi, and through eyes clouded by pain, Eve saw Jirachi smile once again. But this was different from before – it was a sad smile, one that showed that he found no joy in the proceedings. _Brian, you have proven yourself willing to do anything in order to accomplish your goals. I shall keep my promise. _A ghostly image of the tag at the top of Jirachi's head suddenly formed just in front of the true tag; and this image floated to Eve, who was still being held in place by the blade pressed against her neck. She felt it as it settled into her hair, and she felt the smallest of strings from the tip of the tag embed one end into her scalp, thus securing the fragment of Purpose into Eve's hair alongside the three other fragments that Eve possessed.

"Brian, what are you doing?" Eve asked through teeth clenched in pain. Blood poured over her fingers as she continued to hold onto the front of her shoulder, even though she could feel that the worst of the blood was leaking down her back, from the hole where the knife had first punctured.

"I'd be more than happy to explain. But first, call off your bayleef. If she causes trouble now, I'll be forced to do to her what Hope did to Basil. Besides, even if she could beat all my pokemon and get you to Mark and the others, you still won't survive without my help. This knife is covered in a type of poison. Without the right antidote, you'll be dead in about two days."

Eve didn't have to say anything to Hannah. The bayleef had heard Brian well enough; and though she couldn't have cared less for her own safety at that moment, she understood that if what Brian said was true, then battling would do no good. She withdrew the vines she had been prepared to attack with, but still she stood at the ready should the right opportunity emerge for her to save her trainer.

Seeing that Hannah wasn't about to try anything to rescue her trainer, Brian relaxed slightly and said, "You were never really a person for logical deductions, so let me go through things step by step. One – if I am the person who could help you summon the pokémon of Purpose, it stands to reason that I am 100% committed to my goals. Two – you believe that my purpose is to ensure that humans have dominance over pokémon, which indeed is the case. If these two things are true, then how could I ever let you change the world so that humans and pokémon are in balance?"

Eve was getting kind of dizzy now, and her thoughts felt jumbled around in her head; she couldn't quite tell if this was due to the blood loss, the poison, or a combination of those two things. "But… But…"

"Listen, Eve. I'm sorry it had to come to this," Brian said, sounding sincere to an extent. "I really have never liked doing this sort of thing, ever since I joined Team Rocket. And I especially never relished the idea of betraying you like this. But I've known for a long time that I can't let what happened to my parents happen to any other people, if I can help it. And I will do anything to accomplish that end. If that means using the power you've gained from the legends in order to ensure human control, then so be it."

The blade bit into her neck slightly as Eve wavered, not quite able to stand steadily anymore. But this wasn't due to the blood loss, or the poison. Shock was slowly shutting down her mind as she relived the worst moments of her life – Basil's murder, and her own captivity in Team Rocket's base.

And it wasn't just those memories that so disturbed Eve. As she tried to understand the situation, the true implications of it came flooding into her mind. _I told Brian that Hope has to die in order for me to get that fragment. He'll kill her. And my pokémon – they won't be safe, either. I can't let them be hurt and killed. It won't happen. I have to do something… Dear Arceus! If I don't think of something - I have to think of something! I have to!_

Jirachi, who was still watching the scene unfold, suddenly looked at Eve in a new light. _Well, this is surprising – your own purpose is nearly as strong as your friend's, _he said, his voice once again echoing through the minds of all present. _Very well. To make up for what I have encouraged to happen to you, I will give you a gift. Use it wisely, and your wish to save your friends might yet be fulfilled!_

Eve watched distantly as the line on Jirachi's stomach separated, revealing that it was no line – rather, it had been the only visible indication of a massive eye on the pokémon's stomach. The large, blue-green pupil that was revealed began to glow, as did the tags on Jirachi's head, nearly blinding all those present. For maybe five seconds, the light persisted. Thinking this was Jirachi's gift, Eve blindly took a chance and tried to slide out of Brian's grasp. She almost managed it, but Brian felt her trying to get away and quickly caught her again, pressing the blade even more roughly against her neck.

The light faded, and Eve felt tears leak out of her eyes. She'd missed her chance. If only she'd been able to get all of her pokémon over to Hannah, maybe the bayleef could have gotten them all to safety. And as she looked to where Jirachi had been, all that remained was the pale boulder of everstone that she had first seen.

Despite his disappearance, though, Jirachi's voice rang out one last time. _This is all I can do for you. Use the gift well. _

~Eve?~ Hannah's voice rang out tentatively, as if she were so shocked by something that even the current situation could not, for the moment, overrule her surprise. ~I think I just evolved.~

"What?" Eve said, a feeling of hope fluttering inside her. She turned her head, and sure enough, Hannah the bayleef was no longer present. Instead, a similar but much larger pokémon stood in her place; her purple antennae and violet-and-pink petals glowed brightly in the darkness, more luminescent than her withered leaf on her bayleef head could ever have been.

But that wasn't the only thing that was strange. Eve soon realized that it wasn't only her petals and antennae that were glowing; her entire body was still faintly lit, as if the power that had allowed her to evolve still surged through her veins.

Eve forced her mind to process this new turn of events, desperately trying to figure out what to do. Regardless of Hannah's new strength, Eve still had poison coursing through her veins and a knife pressed against her throat. _What was it that Jirachi said? That perhaps I could save my friends… she said nothing about me. If that's all I can manage – if I can only save them, and not myself – then so be it._

Before anyone could quite recover from their surprise, Eve said aloud, "Hannah, if Brian tries anything else, kill him and his ursaring. Even if it means I die, too. Promise me."

Hannah tensed her body, and once again extended her vines; they were long enough now that she could have reached from her current position to where Eve and Brian were, but for Eve's sake she kept them mostly withdrawn. ~I promise, but please tell me that you know what you're doing! I don't want you to die!~

"You think that just because she evolved, your meganium can beat my ursaring?" Brian asked skeptically.

Though her head still spun, Eve's thoughts suddenly seemed clearer than ever. She had a plan, and she was resigned to her fate; these two things together brought a sort of calm to her words as she said, "You can tell, too, can't you? Jirachi gave her more power than just the amount needed to evolve. For the moment, at least, she could easily take out your urasaring, and any other pokémon you try to use against her."

Brian didn't deny this, nor did he seem troubled by it. "Regardless, if she does take out both me and my pokémon, you'll simply end up dying from the poison. I'd die before telling you what antidote is needed. With the power you have now, I couldn't live with myself if I gave you the chance to survive and carry out your plans."

"You don't want to die, do you?" Eve asked softly between breaths; she was finding it hard to stay upright.

"It hardly matters if I live or die. Team Rocket will continue to work towards its goals regardless, and its goals are roughly the same as mine."

"You didn't answer the question."

Brian paused, then replied, "No, of course I don't want to die."

Eve took a few moments to catch her breath, then said, "Then let me take you through this, step by step. Logically." She paused again, and realized that she'd fallen to her knees. Brian kept his knife at the ready, but didn't bother to press it to her throat any longer; considering the state she was in, she wouldn't be able to stop him if he drove it into her exposed back. "Option 1: I have Hannah attack. You, your Ursaring, and any other pokémon you use dies. Either you stab and kill me, or I die from the poison that you say is in my body. My pokémon would be safe, though, and that's all that matters."

~Eve, no! Unless there's no other way, then I refuse to do it!~ Hannah said. ~Basil… He wouldn't want that, and you know it! All of us will suffer as much as need be to keep you alive!~

Eve turned her head slightly so that she could look Hannah in the eyes. Hannah stared back at her, transfixed; the eyes of the human looking back at her were dead, full of despairing hope. ~Don't worry. I do have a plan.~

"Option one?" Brian asked, unperturbed. "I'm not much liking that. What's option two?"

"You give Hannah my pokeballs and let her leave her before us, so that she and my other pokémon can get to safety."

~Eve, no! There has to be some other way – I'm not running to save myself!~

~But there is no other way!~ Eve practically shouted in pokémon speech. Though her physical weakness limited how much she could express herself verbally, instinctual communication had no such limits. ~You have to save yourself, and the other pokémon. And you _must _get Hope away from here! I know that Brian is planning on killing her – you have to keep her safe! Please, Hannah, we don't have time to discuss this! I can tell that I'm not just suffering from blood loss and my already weak lungs. The poison is there. I've lost more blood than this before, but I never felt this weak. I won't be able to do any bargaining in another five minutes or so. We have to do this now!~

"I don't have much choice, do I?" Brian said, unclipping the pouch from Eve's waist and tossing it over towards Hannah; the newly-evolved meganium warily caught it with her vines, expecting some sort of trick. "However, Hannah has to lead the way out of here, otherwise you'll be dead by the time we find our way out."

"Fine," Eve said. ~But Hannah, just as soon as you can see the exit to this cave, get out there and get Hope out of sight!~

The petals around Hannah's neck drooped pitifully. ~Are you sure there's nothing else we can do? Nothing at all?~

An empty smile spread on Eve's face. ~I'm sorry, Hannah. You did so great to evolve with Jirachi's help… I'm sorry I couldn't think of a better way to use your talents. Now please, go! It might be selfish of me, especially if Team Rocket thinks they can use me to change the world, but… I don't want to die, Hannah. Even if that'd be the best thing for the world, I don't want to die. ~

A sorrowful keening sound came from Hannah's throat, but she no longer argued. Pouch of pokéballs still grasped in her vines, she started heading back the way they came, lighting the way in a more subdued manner than before.

"Ursaring, you carry Eve," Brian ordered, finally withdrawing his knife. "Make sure that you have a claw to her throat when we get to the entrance; I don't want Mark to get any ideas about trying to save her before he knows the situation."

Eve drifted off into semi-consciousness for a long while after that. The next thing she knew, light was streaming through her eyelids, and she opened her eyes and squinted to see the bright, midafternoon sky. She was cradled against the massive ursaring's body, one of his arm beneath her while the other held its claws against her throat.

"Brian, what's going on here?" Eve heard Mark's voice ask, rage just beneath the surface. He was no idiot; no doubt he'd already guessed the essence of the situation.

Looking around for a moment as if confused, Brian said, "Where has Hope gone?"

Turning her head towards Mark, Eve saw that Hope was indeed gone. Katsu was still there, though, looking shocked. Unlike Mark, he probably could not easily accept the scene that lay before his eyes.

"Hope was tackled by a meganium and dragged off somewhere," Mark answered. "Judging by the speed and power of the meganium, both pokémon and human are long gone by now. Now, my question?"

Brian smirked slightly; perhaps he didn't truly enjoying hurting Eve like this, but part of him obviously couldn't help but like the feeling of power he got from being in control. "Eve currently has poison running through her veins, and I'm the only one who knows what kind of poison it is, and what kind of rare antidote is needed to keep it from killing her. So Mark, you are going to let me take Eve. If you try to follow, then I'll leave her to you, so that you can feel full responsibility for her unavoidable death. Do you understand?"

"And how do I know she's really poisoned?"

Eve tried to speak, to tell him that she could tell that it was true; but her mouth didn't seem to want to work.

Instead, Brian said, "To both me and Team Rocket, someone with her power is better off dead than free. What reason would I have to be bluffing about the poison? If we can't control her and her power, then we want her gone."

"Brian, what are you saying!" Katsu suddenly asked. "We're all friends, aren't we? Surely you can't mean all this!"

All Brian had to do was meet Katsu's eyes in response. Katsu immediately realized that it was no use. This was really happening. In anger, Katsu reached to his belt to grab a pokéball, but Mark grabbed his wrist before Katsu could reach the red and white sphere.

"If we resist, Eve dies, Katsu," Mark said, his voice so filled with barely controlled anger that it was frightening. "Brian's not lying about the poison."

"I'm glad you're seeing things my way. Figuratively speaking, of course," Brian said. "Now, if you'd be so kind, hand over your pokémon. Otherwise, I'll carry out my threat of letting Eve die."

Mark's blind eyes blazed with hatred. "The otherwise also includes me letting Tim burn your body into ash. If you let Eve die, I'd kill you in a heartbeat. But I know that Eve is more valuable to you than my pokémon are; you aren't going to kill her just to get Tim or any of the others."

A friendly laugh came from Brian, though a slight roughness tore at the edges of the sound, revealing how tense he actually was. "You've called my bluff. But thankfully, you realize everything else I've said is true. That makes things easier." He pulled a pokéball from his belt, and a gardevoir appeared; since Brian had never once trained a psychic pokémon, it was undoubtedly a stolen pokémon that now belonged to whatever was left of Team Rocket. "This pokémon's teleporting is nothing compared to Tim's. Still, she'll get me far enough away so that you can't follow me when I take off on a flying pokémon. I wouldn't have even needed to come back up to the surface, but I'd been hoping to get a hold of Hope and the rest of Eve's pokémon. Oh well – I suppose I can't come away with every prize. It's been a pleasure getting to know both of you, but for now, I suppose it's time for me to say goodbye."

And just like that, Eve, Ursaring, Brian and the gardevoir were gone, leaving Katsu and Brian standing helplessly on the beach.

* * *

So, um... Well, Eve's in some deep trouble again, though I promise that the situation will be quite different now from what things were like for her the first time Team Rocket got a hold of her.

I can also say with confidence that we are very close to the end. To be honest, I really don't know what exactly is going to happen after this, but I can't see this fanfic possibly continuing for more than another ten chapters. THE END IS NIGH.

And I wasn't originally going to have Hannah evolve again in this fanfic, simply because I didn't realize until this chapter that there would be a chance for her to evolve so soon after becoming a bayleef. But it just seemed to fit somehow; after all, the first time she evolved, it was to protect Eve, and she failed that time just like she could do nothing this time... Which is kind of depressing to think about... :(


	54. Betrayed

**Chapter Fifty-Four: Betrayed**

Katsu and Mark stood there on the beach for a few silent moments, doing nothing but looking at the spot where enemy and friend had vanished. The day was warm and windy, and every now and then a bit of the spray from the waves would hit the two companions' skin, mingling with the sweat that was already present; but despite this potential distraction, neither was capable of reacting to it at this moment. To anyone watching, it would have appeared as if all thought had disappeared from the minds of these two humans just as certainly as Eve and Brian had vanished physically.

In truth, however, both minds were working furiously, each in its own way. Katsu and Brian had gotten along well ever since they'd first met, and they had become good friends ever since Brian's faked defection to the Old Johto's side. Now, with the truth of Brian's intentions revealed, Katsu was having a difficult time just believing what had just happened. Of course, he didn't deny it. He couldn't. He had seen Eve's kidnapping happen right before his eyes. But he still didn't want to think of Brian as a bad person, and so part of his mind weakly reasoned that perhaps Brian had been lying, or that he'd been forced into doing this.

Mark, meanwhile, was still having no problem comprehending the truth. At the moment, he was paralyzed not by denial of Brian's motives but rather by the anger that seemed to surge through every fiber of his being. Even Tim, who normally kept a level head even in the worst of circumstances, was having trouble controlling the waves of emotion that were sweeping through him.

Finally, after maybe a minute had passed, Mark managed to conquer his wrath and come to his senses. He turned to Katsu and said, "You need to go find Hope. Make sure she can't try anything, or get away with Eve's pokémon – you saw, didn't you? Hannah had Eve's pouch with her. There's a chance Hope might not be involved. Brian left her behind, after all. Then again, if it was Team Rocket's plan all along to have Eve get all the fragments, then Hope essentially telling me how to save Eve during the war is worthy of suspicion. While you look for Hope, Tim and I are going to find and follow Brian from a distance, so that we can save Eve once we let them cure her."

Katsu snapped out of his own stunned daze. "Mark, you can't!" he shouted out at once. "You don't know exactly where Brian is – if you accidentally teleport where Brian or any of his pokémon can see you, then he may very well let Eve die! You didn't seem to think Brian was bluffing earlier, and neither did I. Eve is more valuable to them captured than dead, but also more valuable dead than alive and free. What would you do if you were the reason Eve died?"

Mark scowled, his anger not wanting to hear Katsu's argument. "But my awareness has a much wider range than Brian's. The chances of me appearing where he could see me are slim, and-"

"Do we even know what other pokémon he might have with him? Did you think about that?" Katsu asked, his voice somewhat calmer this time as he began to resign himself to the truth of what had happened, and that there was little they could do about it. "We know he has a gardevoir with him, and that pokémon could probably sense you from a distance. Moreover, he suspects that you'll chase him. He's obviously prepared for it. Maybe Team Rocket has even set a trap for you, Mark – Arceus only knows how much they'd love to get a hold of Tim's teleporting abilities."

"So what do you want us to do? Sit here?" Mark retorted, his voice suddenly quiet but deadly.

Katsu shook his head, then started running off in the direction Hope and Hannah had gone. "Let's do what you suggested first – whether or not Hope has been planning this with Brian, she might know where they've gone!"

Mark clenched his fists, wishing that there was something more they could do but knowing that Katsu was suggesting the best plan of action. Without waiting to spare any further words, he and Tim teleported just ahead of Katsu, forcing the teen to come to a stop. "You wait here for me," Mark said. "I'll be able to find them more quickly than you can, and then we can meet back up here to interrogate Hope and figure out our next step." Then Mark disappeared again. After a few moments of hesitation, Katsu returned to the beach, knowing that Mark and Tim would find Hope much more easily than he could manage on foot.

Within five minutes, Mark reappeared with both Hannah and Hope. Tim used his psychic attack to grab all of Hope's pokéballs from her belt and toss them to the sand, well out of her reach. The violet-flowered meganium had, in the meantime, essentially collapsed to the ground. The energy that had been given to her had left her all at once, leaving her as little more than a heap of sorrow and regret.

"Now, Hope, tell us," Mark said, his voice threatening, "Did you know that Brian was going to abduct Eve?"

Her face as empty of expression as always, Hope shook her head. "No."

"Did you know that he was capable of it?" Katsu asked.

"Yes."

Both Mark and Katsu clenched their fists in response to this. "You knew that, and you didn't tell us?" Katsu accused. "Did you _want_ him to get a hold of Eve?"

"No."

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Mark said, his voice dangerously quiet, as if he himself was the silence that came just before the most vicious of storms. "Why did you ever even try to save her from Team Rocket during the Johto civil war? Did they order you to save her, so that she could eventually continue collecting fragments?"

Hope met the blazing anger in Mark's eyes with the uncaring coldness of her own gaze. "I've told you before. They didn't order me. I don't know why I did that."

"So why did you ever agree to travel with Eve again after all that?" Katsu said, taking his turn in the questioning once again. "Are you saying that you just had nothing better to do? That you don't care at all what happens to Eve?"

Face still blank, but with a new sadness in her eyes, she said, "I don't know."

Mark took a step closer to Hope, so that the two of them were mere inches away from each other. Yet again, Mark asked, "Why didn't you warn us about Brian?"

Hope didn't respond.

Mark's wrath got the better of him; he shifted his weight and sent his fist flying into the side of Hope's face. The girl tumbled to the ground, but not a sound escaped her lips. Again, but louder this time, Mark asked, "Why didn't you tell us!"

"During the Johto war, I saved her without having any motive for doing so," Hope said. "If she could make me do that, then I thought it wasn't unlikely that Brian had changed, too. I thought maybe he really had decided to place his friendship with Eve above his political ideals. I guess I was wrong."

The answer was so surprising coming from someone so emotionless that for a moment, Mark and Katsu didn't know what to say or do. Then, slowly, Mark lowered himself to the ground and put his head in his hands. Part of him had wanted Hope to be at fault. He wanted a scapegoat for the anger and helplessness that were simultaneously coursing through him. Now that he saw that there was no scapegoat, he felt even more useless than ever.

Katsu, on the other hand, knew that there was more that they could do. "Hope, do you have any idea where they might have taken Eve? Even if all you can do is list off locations of old Team Rocket bases-"

"It won't help," Hope said. "Even during their most secure years, Team Rocket moved all but their most major bases of operation nearly every other month. All the major bases are known now, since the defeat of the bulk of Team Rocket; and what's left of Team Rocket will have gone to places that none of the captured Rockets know about. No matter where they are now, I can guarantee that I've never been there."

Katsu turned around suddenly and took a couple steps away from the group, too frustrated by Hope's response to stay in one place. "Mark, get up off the ground and help me think! There has to be something we can do – now's not the time to break down!"

"I _am_ thinking," Mark said quietly, his head still resting against the palms of his hands. "We personally know some of the most powerful trainers in the world – we can start there. Cynthia already knows the extent of what Eve was trying to do. She'll know how important it is for Eve's power not to remain in Team Rocket's hands. Jenna will help, if she has recovered since her initial hospitalization those few weeks ago. We'll need to explain things to Lance, too. I'm wary of getting him involved, but considering how much of a hand he had in Team Rocket's downfall, he must have since learned a lot about their movements, and the movements of those leaders who weren't captured. And through him and Cynthia, we might be able to convince gym leaders and champions of other regions to help us in our search."

"But if that happens, will Eve be better off in the end?" Katsu asked. "Right now, only us three, Jenna, Cynthia, Brian, and probably some of the higher ups in Team Rocket know what Eve's capable of. If we spread the reasons as to why it's so important to find her, then how likely is it that people will be content to just rescue her and let her go again? Even outside of Team Rocket's control, she'll be seen as a danger to society – and for good reason. You and I both know that she plans to bring change like the world hasn't seen since its beginnings. Most people won't like that."

"Does it matter if they like it or not?" Mark asked. "Even if they rescue her simply to imprison her again, I doubt it'll be any worse than what Team Rocket is doing to her now. And if Team Rocket can somehow gain access to her power for their own use, then change of a very bad kind will undoubtedly occur. I can hardly even imagine what they would do with Eve's power, should she ever get all the fragments. Speaking of which…" He lifted his head and looked over to Hope, who was still sitting on the sand. The left side of her face was already discolored and swelling badly; Mark had definitely let his anger get away from him. "Hope, we have to keep you safe. So long as you're alive, Team Rocket can't do anything with Eve's power, aside from the less important things they managed during the war. Hopefully, it'll keep Eve safer. They probably won't try to force her into doing what they ultimately intend until they know they can get results."

Hope nodded in response.

"You know, we can also ask Cynthia to look more into the legends surrounding Eve," Katsu said in a sudden stroke of inspiration. "Didn't Brian say at some point that Team Rocket was investigating the legends she got involved in? Maybe there's something more about what she has to do in all those unown-script translations from the Ruins of Alph. If we can find out anything Team Rocket might already know, then we might be able to predict what they will attempt."

Mark slowly pushed himself off the ground. "If Team Rocket has found something in the Ruins of Alph concerning Eve's role, then I'm sure Cynthia will be able to discover it, as well. She's an expert and investigating and interpreting legends. At the very least, it certainly can't hurt to check. Maybe we'll find out something about what happens if Eve ever does get all five fragments for herself. We know next to nothing about that."

Hope stood up as well, and said, "We might not know what happens next. But I think she does."

Katsu's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? Has she told you something that she hasn't trusted us enough to tell us?"

"She didn't trust me with the information. If she does know anything more, she hasn't told anyone but herself and maybe her pokémon," Hope said. "But I do know that she's met Mew."

Katsu's jaw dropped while Mark asked in disbelief, "Mew? The mother of all pokémon? When could they have possibly met?"

"You met her, too," Hope said. "She was the ditto that was accompanying Eve for a while."

"That was _Mew?_" Katsu asked. "But why didn't Eve tell us?"

Mark shook his head, as if he was so exhausted that he didn't know what to think about all the new information that needed to be processed. "Thank Lugia she didn't tell any of us. Imagine the power Team Rocket would've had if Brian had learned of Mew's identity and captured her in addition to Eve. It can't be coincidence that Mew found Eve, or the other way around – whichever is the case. If the legends are true and Mew really has been around since the dawn of time – since just after even Arceus came into existence – then it's not unlikely she knows exactly what it is that Eve's supposed to be doing. And it's also not unlikely that she told Eve."

"Is there anything else you're not telling us, Hope?" Katsu asked. "Anything at all? Anything that could help us, or tell us what Team Rocket is planning?"

Hope shook her head. "No, there isn't. But I wish there was… I really do."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When Eve awoke, she had no illusions about her situation. She immediately remembered everything that had happened to her. Perhaps 'remembered' wasn't even the right word for it. This second betrayal sat insider her soul as if it had literally become a part of her, as inseparable from who she was as was her heart or her hands. Even in her previous state of unconsciousness, she knew she had still been aware of its terrible reality weighing on her chest.

The room she found herself in was not unlike the room in which she had been held the last time she had been kidnapped. Its walls were concrete, and a door in one wall led to a small bathroom. The only other door in the room was closed; no doubt it was the way out. Eve didn't even bother getting up from where she sat in the corner to try to open it. She felt emotionally dead. She had put so much trust in Brian, who had done so much to help her during her last captivity-

_But all that must have been a trick, too,_ Eve realized dimly. _Team Rocket had him playing as my advocate to see if he could get my trust. And those injuries he supposedly got because he'd tried to bring food for me – I bet he willingly let himself sustain those injuries, to put the final nail in the coffin of my doubts about him. Maybe it had even been his idea._

Continuing to look around the room, she saw that unlike the room of her last forced stay with Team Rocket, there were no furnishings of any kind. A plate of food lay in front of her; she didn't bother touching it. She didn't feel like eating. Part of her didn't even feel like living.

She also noticed that the room was dimly lit by some blue, almost flickering light source. Though not feeling particularly interested in this abnormal lighting, she nonetheless found her eyes falling upon the large, flickering bluish flame that rose from a big white candle in the opposite corner of the room. Eve wondered if maybe she was still really asleep, because the candle itself almost seemed to be moving…

~Hi, there,~ the candle suddenly said as the blue flame flared up brighter, though even the surprise of a talking candle was not enough to rouse Eve from her depressed stupor. ~Who are you?~

Eve looked at the thick white candle carefully, and saw that it had inquisitive yellow eyes, as well as a mouth. She'd heard of this kind of pokémon before, though none lived in the Johto region. Litwick – they were ghost and fire types, if she remembered correctly. And she knew there was some sort of ominous lore about them, too, though at the moment she couldn't remember what. Regardless, Eve simply continued to stare blankly at the Pokémon.

The candle pokémon looked troubled when Eve didn't answer. ~You won't talk to me? But you can understand me, can't you?~

Eve pulled her knees up to her chest and didn't respond, though she kept her eyes trained on the litwick.

~Oh, you probably aren't feeling well…~ The litwick said sadly, his flame dimming slightly. ~That's my fault, I'm afraid. My flame burns the life energy of things around me. If we were outside under normal conditions, it wouldn't really do anything unless I was really trying… You see, I'd have other live things around me to draw from, like the plants. And even that wouldn't do much, since the sun would help dilute my light, which is what pulls out the life energy. But in here… Well, there is no other light and nothing else alive, and so I can't help it. And my humans have me do this so often, with so many different other humans, that it makes me sad… I mean, burning the energy feels good, but I don't mean to make people feel so bad in the process. I was so excited when I saw that you'd be able to understand me – quite a few of the people I get locked in with will talk to me, but none of them really think I can understand, and they don't know what I say, either. I don't get to talk to anyone much anymore. Not even other pokémon.~

Somewhere deep inside, Eve felt sorry for the poor pokémon. But she didn't have the energy to respond, to give him some comfort or to get comfort of her own through conversation.

~Would you eat something? Please?~ The litwick said, seeing that Eve wasn't responding. ~You've already been in here with me for hours. It's taken a lot out of you. Eating can temporarily fight off some of the effects of my fire.~

Eve reached out and grabbed the apple on the plate in front of her. She took a bite, chewed it slowly, swallowed, then put the apple back down. Though the apple itself looked like it should be a good apple, it tasted like cardboard in her mouth. In fact, all sensation seemed dim, almost as if she was in a dream; just like the apple didn't quite have taste, the blue fire in front of her didn't seem all that colorful, and the cold, hard concrete that she sat on didn't seem all that cold, or hard. Her senses were numb. She couldn't tell if this was from the effects of the litwick's flame, or due to the thoughts of betrayal and captivity that seemed to smother her.

Still, the litwick was right about the food counteracting some of his flame's effects. Though she still had no appetite for the cardboard-tasting apple or any of the equally unappetizing food on the plate, she did have more energy than before. She found herself standing up and walking over to the door that had to be the exit of the room. She reached out to grab the handle, but instinctually jerked back as she felt currents of electricity arc up her arms. Though the sensation of pain felt numbed as well, it still was enough to make Eve sit back down in the corner, unwilling to try the door again. Only now did she notice thick, bangle-like metal bracelets strapped securely around her wrists. Perhaps they only activated when she neared the door. Or maybe there was a camera in one of the dark upper corners of the room, so that someone could monitor her and reprimand her if she misbehaved. She was inclined to think the lattermost of these two possibilities was the case; and, in fact, as she looked more closely at the ceiling, she imagined that she did see something in one of the corners of the room.

~There's a human device up there, if that's what you're looking for,~ the litwick said; being a ghost-type, his eyes would be much better than Eve's in the dim lighting. ~Are you sure you won't eat more? At this rate, you'll fade quickly. Of course, my trainer never lets anyone die due to my light, but still… I don't imagine that it's pleasant to just let your life energy get sucked out of you.~

Eve continued to sit in the corner despite the litwick's pleading, absentmindedly rubbing her slightly burned wrists. And she sat there for an hour, then two. She got up to use the restroom, then sat back down for several more hours – it was hard to tell exactly how long, since she had no frame of reference, and she also didn't care. Eventually, she tried a bite of bread; even aside from her dull senses, it was stale and bland. She put it back down, then went back to being motionless.

The litwick watched with concern the entire time. He didn't try to convince her to eat again. He'd seen this happen with other humans before. Until he was taken away from her and she was given time to recover, she was too far gone to try to help herself. So the hours continued to pass.

Eventually, the door opened. Eve looked up without really thinking about it, without really feeling any curiosity or fear. She had no expectations for who would come through the door, so she was unsurprised when a yellow, bipedal pokémon with a strange long nose and white mane came in. In one hand, it held some sort of metal disc on a string. In the back of her mind, Eve recognized the pokémon as a hypno.

As the door closed and the hypno solemnly walked in front of her, what little interest Eve had in the newcomer slipped away, and she went back to looking at the floor. Almost immediately, she felt a shock travel painfully up her arms and through the rest of her body; she instinctually snapped her head back up to face the hypno, and the flow of electricity was cut off. Wishing to avoid the pain, she kept her head up and watched the hypno even as he lifted his hand and began to swing the metal disc back and forth. And though her eyes remained open as she watched the disc sway back and forth, she was asleep within seconds.

Then, the nightmare began.

At first, she found herself in complete darkness. There was no sound, no light, no hope. Panic set in, as it always does in nightmares, even though there was nothing yet present that could scare her.

A voice rang out through the dream. _You're in darkness, aren't you? _It said. Eve could tell it wasn't a pokémon speaking. It seemed a bit like telepathy, or like a person talking, but the voice came from everywhere at once, and she couldn't see who the voice belonged to. _But look around you. Look closely. There are monsters around you, just waiting to tear you apart. Look at them – pokémon ready to devour you and everything you hold dear._

Eve looked around and felt her throat closing in fear. Red eyes of all shapes gleamed in the darkness around her, and Eve could just barely see the silhouettes of droves of bloodthirsty pokémon. Houndoom crowded near her, their breath hot against her skin; beedrill and fearow hovered in the air, their pointed beaks and stingers poised to drive into her soft flesh. She felt pain in her leg as claws raked down its length, and she instinctually tried to kick off the meowth she now saw. But the cat pokémon continued to hold on, digging his claws ever deeper into her leg and sending waves of pain flowing through her. She tripped and fell to the ground, screaming. It was as if every single pokémon she had ever had reason to fear was closing in on her.

Now she found herself running as the pokémon chased her. Every few steps, a strong muzzle would take a chunk of skin out of her leg, or the poisoned tips of a beedrill's stings would plunge into her back, right into the spot in her shoulder where Brian had stabbed her.

_Look at them, Eve,_ the voice said. _Feel them getting closer and closer. They're vicious beasts. They can't control themselves. They'll kill you, and everyone else they get their hands on. Only humans can control them. Isn't that right?_

Eve screamed yet again as she tripped and found herself literally pinned to the ground, back-down, with fearow beaks stabbing her through her hands and feet. The pain was so real that she ought to have passed out. But she didn't, and instead had to watch as the bloody maw of a houndoom loomed ever nearer. She wanted to close her eyes until it was over, but somehow, she couldn't look away from the monstrosity.

_We can save you from them, with your help. You must use your power for us – you understand that, right? We must make it so that humans will always be able to put these beasts in their places. We can help._

The pain in her hands and feet was suddenly gone, and she felt the crowd of pokémon being pushed back. Humans were fighting them, forcing the cruel, bloodthirsty pokémon into submission. The houndoom backed up with their tails between their legs; meowth slunk away; fearow and beedrill flew away as fast as their wings could carry them.

_We humans will protect you. Just trust us. Trust Team Rocket. We'll keep you safe. Now go to sleep, and escape from the fear._

The dream Eve closed her eyes just as the real Eve opened her own. She was once again in the cold, small room, lit only by the flame of the kind litwick.

Fear suddenly engulfed her yet again as her half-awake mind realized that the candle was a pokémon. _He's evil! _Eve thought to herself briefly as she backed even farther into her corner, realizing that she was drenched in sweat. _He'll suck away my energy – he'll kill me like the rest of them! All of the pokémon will!_

~What's wrong?~ the litwick asked, seeing Eve's fear. ~It's just me. We met before, remember? You've been having nightmares, since even before I was brought in here. I think the hypno must have done it, though I'm always taken out of the room as soon as he puts people to sleep.~

Eve quickly calmed herself as reason overtook the fear that lingered from the dream. To be truthful, she found it hard to stay worked up, even when considering the fear the nightmare had conjured. With the light of the litwick shining on her once again, she found herself growing numb. But she was more awake than she had been last time she'd met the litwick, and more capable of conscious thought.

_If this continues – litwick by day, and nightmares by night – I think I'm going to be in trouble. Even from just one day of it, I feel exhausted. And what was with that nightmare, anyway? It was so different from what I've dreamed the past few months… Was it the hypno's idea? Or did Team Rocket figure out a way to influence what was shown in the dream? And what do they hope to accomplish, other than making me exhausted?_

She had no answers to her own questions; the questions themselves were all she could manage in her current state. However, she knew she didn't like things one bit. She knew enough about Team Rocket to guess that they were planning something that went beyond making her tired. And she still remembered what Brian had said, that they would try to use the fragments for their own ends.

_I can't let that happen. But… I can only think of one way out of this. And I don't like it. But I don't think I have much of a choice. Suicune… I only hope she can save me without getting herself captured… I'd never forgive myself if they got their hands on her._

Eve sighed. There really was no other way. Even if she'd had her own pokémon with her, she doubted she'd even be able to plan an escape. Her mind just wasn't working right. She barely had the energy to think.

So she pulled her legs against her chest and let her forehead rest against her knees, so that there was no possible way for the camera in one of the upper corners of the room to see her. Then, in little more than a whisper, a plea escaped her lips.

"Suicune… If you can hear me, try to save me."

Then, exhausted yet wide awake, she returned to staring blankly off into the distance as her life energy began to burn away in the litwick's eerie light.

* * *

EDIT: You know what I hate? The fact that I can never, _never_ seem to get names right. This chapter, I seemed to have issues with Mark. One moment, I'd have it right... Then the next sentence, his name magically became Brian. You have no idea how stupid it makes me feel. So, sorry to all of you who had to live with that before I double-edited. If I missed any instances, please let me know! /End edit.

Have you ever read the pokédex descriptions for litwick and its evolutions? They're horrifying. I suppose that's true with many ghost-type pokémon, but regardless...

Also, I forgot to put this in my author's note for the last chapter, so I just wanted to give another big thank you to the real life friend (I believe he reviewed once calling himself TubaHero), who helped me come up with Brian's character! He ended up being a marvelous political opposite for Mark and Eve, and now that he's shown his true colors, I'm glad that he ended up being in the story (even though it stinks for Eve). The alternative was a much less exciting, more goody-goody canon character taking Brian's place as the person needed to summon Jirachi. Which, of course, would have been annoying for all of us. So thanks, TubaHero! Couldn't've thought of Brian (and, therefore, much of the plot) without your help!

And, as always, thanks to all of you for reading!


	55. Perception

**Chapter Fifty-Five: Perception**

Three days of Eve's captivity passed. Or perhaps it wasn't three days. Maybe it was really seven, or ten. Eve got the feeling that the hypno's hypnosis attack was being used to keep her in her nightmares for periods of times much longer than a normal night would last, and she also guessed that her time with the litwick was longer than her usual waking hours.

However long it had been, nothing changed during those days, aside from slight variations in the nightmare. Whereas the first dream had been very vague as to who was a part of it – the species of pokémon had been the only specific details – the following dreams gradually became complex and in-depth. In one, Mark was introduced as an enemy, someone so intertwined with Tim that, given the right circumstances, he was just as bad as any single pokémon. In the nightmare after that, the dream ended with Brian as Eve's savior. After all, he had just recently rescued Eve from the wicked Mark and brought her into the protection of Team Rocket.

Each time she woke up, she found the ideas from the nightmares and the fear they inspired lingering for longer and longer periods of time. That first day, it had only lasted a few seconds; the second day, she was terrified of the litwick for nearly five minutes before she came to her senses. The length of her terror doubled the day after that, and even once she'd truly woken up, she stayed instinctually wary of the litwick for nearly an hour.

Then, during Eve's fourth waking day in the room, something changed. She'd been awake for a while when she began to hear loud cracking sounds echoing through the concrete walls and ceiling. She felt the vibrations travel from the walls through her body, and she knew that something big was happening. It felt as if the building was ripping itself in two.

_It has to be Suicune! _Eve thought in a rare moment of excitement. All of her energy seemed to return at the thought of being rescued; she stood up and, in both her pokémon speech and human voice, shouted –

"Suicune! I'm here!"

~Huh? What's going on? What are you doing?~ the litwick asked, looking rather distressed by the loud noises echoing through the walls around him.

Eve looked to the litwick, and realized that maybe he could help her. For the first time since first awakening in the room, she spoke to him. ~Litwick, you said you don't like having to hurt people. If that's really true, will you help me escape?~

~I don't know…~ he said uneasily. ~My trainer told me to just stay here. I don't think I want to go against what he told me.~

~Litwick, please,~ Eve said. ~I'll die if I stay here, or maybe something even worse will happen. I'm tortured by nightmares every night, and I have no energy to do so much as eat during the day. I _have _to go. If you help, I can take you with me – you'll never have to hurt another human again.~

Litwick backed into his corner. ~No, um, I don't want to! I mean, I do, but my trainer… You know, I trust him! I can't just disobey him.~

Eve scowled and walked over to the metal door. Her bracelets began to buzz with electricity, but she ignored the pain as she tried the doorknob. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. She backed up a step or two, then tried ramming her shoulder into the door with as much force as she could manage. The door didn't budge.

All of a sudden, she felt her sudden surge of energy leave her. The hope was still there; Eve could still hear the cracking of concrete elsewhere in the building, seemingly coming from somewhere above. Suicune was still fighting to get to her. But the pain of the electricity mixed with her sudden physical activity had taken its toll. She essentially collapsed to the ground in front of the door, still conscious but once again incapable of movement.

The litwick suddenly got over its unease at Eve's earlier insistence for help. Concern and guilt once again filled him. Quietly, he said, ~I really do wish I could help. I'm sorry.~

Eve continued to sit there, back against the door. She didn't look up as she said, ~It's okay. Suicune will still come.~

But after a few minutes had passed, Eve realized that loud noises had ceased. Disappointment seeped into her, but even this was a dull sensation. The brighter the litwick's flame grew, the dimmer Eve's life became.

~Maybe she's still coming?~ the litwick said, trying to cheer Eve up as soon as he noticed that her hope had left her.

Eve shook her head slightly. Either Suicune had been forced to flee, or she'd been captured. Both possibilities were terrible to consider. One meant that it was Eve's fault Suicune was no longer free; the other meant that Team Rocket's defensive capabilities were strong enough to keep even a legend like Suicune from breaking through.

A quick shock arced from Eve's wrists. She looked up momentarily, wondering what she had done now; then, guessing the problem, she slowly moved away from the door and back into her corner. In another moment, the door opened and the hypno walked in. Knowing that, as always, there was no use resisting, Eve willingly looked up and followed the swaying of the hypno's pendulum until she had sunk into yet another nightmare.

Eve found herself in a dark room. It was so big that she could see neither the walls nor the ceilings, yet she still had the sense of being caged in this place.

_You thought that Suicune could help you, didn't you? _the dream voice said. _But in reality, she doesn't want to save you. She wants to kill you._

A shape appeared in the darkness in front of Eve, a dark quadruped that was much larger and much more fearsome than its real life counterpart. Where the crown-like ornament on Suicune's head should have been, two pointed horns swooped back on this beast; the lithe limbs were now much more muscled, with wicked claws on each foot. Instead of the gentle purple mane of flowing purplish hair, shadows fell, draping much of her body in an almost corporal fear.

_She still respects the wishes of her trainer and Yellow. They wished for peace between pokémon and humans. But now that you have been captured yet again, she realizes that you aren't the one who can do that. You are weak. She lets her rage control her, and she therefore wishes to kill you so that her own trainer might not have died in vain._

The shadow Suicune took a step forward, and then another, her eyes glowing red and a menacing growl coming from her throat. Eve turned tail and ran, terror racing through her as she heard the sounds of the heavy footfalls and scraping claws of the monster behind her. Eve ran and ran and ran for she couldn't tell how long, and always the beast was right behind her, so close that Eve could smell the scent of blood and rotting flesh on its breath.

_This is what your goals have gotten you! No matter how foolishly you place your love and trust in pokémon, they will always betray you! They cannot help it. Emotions govern their hearts and minds. We humans, on the other hand – we rely on justice and reason. Team Rocket is an organization that dedicates itself to those two ideals. We will always be there to help you, unlike your pokémon friends. All you have to do is trust us._

As Eve continued to run, she suddenly saw Brian standing some ways ahead of her. And she realized that it was his voice that had been speaking to her, not just in this nightmare but in all of them so far. In the world of the nightmare, he was like a blazing beacon of light to counteract the dark shadows that chased after her. She ran right past him and stopped just behind him, putting his body in between herself and the fear-inducing Suicune. She watched as he slowly pulled a pokéball from his pocket, then threw it at the approaching threat.

Rather than getting captured, both creature and pokéball disappeared in a blinding flash of white light.

Once Eve could see again, she found herself surrounded by evil pokémon. The terror that had dissipated when Brian had saved her returned in full force as the pokémon dove, their fangs and spikes and claws somehow tearing through her again and again without killing her. For what felt like hours filled with fear and pain, she was ripped apart over and over, limb by limb.

Then, the pain stopped. Eve looked up and saw Brian and his ursaring standing to either side of her, warding off the horde of bloodthirsty pokémon. _Go to sleep_, the dream voice – Brian's voice – instructed. _Go to sleep, and trust me. Trust Team Rocket. We'll keep you safe._

Her dream self trusted Brian completely. Eve closed her eyes, and once again found herself in the small, concrete room with the litwick across from her. She backed into her corner in fear, as she always did upon waking up.

~It's me, remember?~ the candle pokémon said. ~You finally started talking to me last time you were awake. You were calling for a pokémon named Suicune to rescue you.~

The name of Suicune made Eve cry out in fear, and she tried to curl up even more into her corner.

~I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! What did I say?~ the litwick said, trying desperately to calm Eve. ~Please, just talk! I'll prove to you that I'm not scary. Ask me anything. I can tell you about what it was like where I grew up, and what sort of person my trainer is like… Anything. Just please talk! You're getting worse and worse by the day! Is it the dreams? Maybe I can convince the hypno to make things not as bad, but you have to tell me why you're so scared.~

Eve ignored his pleas. She remained in terror for her usual few minutes, but this time the fear continued to drag on and on. Nearly an hour had passed by the time she could force herself to try to calm down. Then, almost as soon as she had regained that self-awareness, she found herself succumbing to the numbing effects of the litwick's flame. It took her a few minutes to even realize that the room she was in now was slightly bigger and slightly colder than the one she had been in up until now. But once she did understand she was somewhere knew, the realization provoked little reaction from her – she figured that Team Rocket must have needed to move her for some reason, then faded back into her daze without any further musings on the issue.

As she sat there with hardly enough energy to be called awake, a strange thought entered her mind. She knew that she thought she was awake now, and she knew that the person that was always being chased by pokémon was her dreaming self. But her dreaming self always knew that going to sleep would mean finding herself in the dull, litwick room – in other words, her dream self thought that it was really this little room that was the dream. How was she to know which was right?

Dimly, she thought about how subdued everything was in this 'real' world. She had attributed it to the litwick, but what if the litwick was just her dream world's way of accounting for the muffling of her senses? She could see little of color in this world, after all, aside from the pale blue of the litwick's flame; she couldn't feel much, and she never felt hungry; and even when she did eat, the food was tasteless no matter how good it looked.

The other world – the dark world – was a different matter. The pain was real there, as was the fear. The difference between the light and the darkness was well defined. She knew that she had smelled the sweat of the pokémon chasing her and felt the bloodlust that came from the glowing red eyes. The relief whenever Brian or Team Rocket helped her was real enough. And the voice, Brian's voice – it always told her to go to sleep. Why would he say that if she was actually waking up? And if she was awake now, why didn't she feel like it?

Some logical part of her mind suddenly kicked in, temporarily rousing her from the drone of the hypothetical thoughts swirling in the back of her mind. _Don't be silly_, she told herself. _I must be awake now. Mark isn't my enemy, and Brian isn't my friend. Pokémon don't constantly seek me out to kill me. The stuff that happens in the dreams doesn't make sense. I know that… Don't I?_

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Thank you all for coming all the way here to Sinnoh. My request for this meeting was unexpected, I realize, but I wouldn't have done so if the need for action was not urgent," Cynthia said as she stood up in the front of the small conference room, addressing about thirty of the most powerful people on the planet. Some gym leaders from every Pokémon-training region were present; four of the five champions were her, with only Alder gone due to some issue he had to manage; some government officials were also in attendance, the president of Unova and the foreign secretaries of Almia and Fiore being the most notable among them.

"Our situation is this," Cynthia continued. "Based on what Eve had told me about what she's been doing as well as my own research into the ancient writings she uncovered at the Ruins of Alph, I have good reason to expect that Eve in Team Rocket's hands could essentially act as a terrorist weapon to hold the whole world hostage. If the legends I've found truly refer to Eve – which I have no choice but to conclude that they must – then as soon as Eve's power can be activated, she will be able to summon Arceus."

"Arceus?" Steven Stone, Champion of Hoenn, asked. "I mean no insult when I say this, but isn't Arceus just a myth? Or, alternately, isn't he a god? If he does indeed exist, then how could Team Rocket possibly control something like an all-powerful pokémon?"

Cynthia picked up a folder in front of her and held it up for all to see. "Each of you had one of these folders in your chair when you came in. In each is a summary of my findings, so that you can see the facts for yourselves. Steven, I completely understand your incredulity. Even when Eve was meeting such pokémon as Ho-Oh and Lugia, I never quite believed that it could come to this… Perhaps that's why I only discouraged her, and never stopped her. Regardless, you can make your own decisions concerning how bad the situation is.

"If my research is correct, then Eve needs just one more piece of the puzzle in order to summon Arceus. A girl named Hope is the one who currently possesses the fifth key-" Cynthia nodded to Hope, who was sitting in the very back of the room. "-and Eve cannot receive that key until Hope dies. Team Rocket currently has Eve in their possession, and we believe that they are going to manipulate Eve to summon Arceus for their own ends. If this happens and Arceus is truly the God that Sinnoh legends tell us he is, then we will have no choice but so submit, powerful though everyone assembled here may be."

A muscular man with white hair and a similarly frosty beard stood up. "And exactly how is it that Arceus will be controlled? Summoning is one thing, but if I know anything about the legends of my own region, then I can tell you that no pokémon of legend can easily be controlled except by people of noble purpose."

"Drayden, I would normally agree with you," Cynthia said. "However, the legends I've read rebuke this idea. Arceus locked himself away fully and completely so that he might not harm the universes. If there weren't some checks on his power when he is once again summoned, then he could potentially destroy the world as we know it. The legends written in the Ruins of Alph seem to suggest that through this system of summoning that he created, Arceus fully intends – or perhaps will be forced – to do what is ordered of him by the summoner. If not for the situation at hand, that would perhaps be for the best; after all, he has not been of this world since its beginnings. No doubt he wouldn't know what to do with the world as it is now. But as things are now, we can't possibly let Team Rocket get a hold of that power."

Lance stood up. "So we must get Eve back, that much is obvious. Even if Team Rocket wasn't involved, we cannot allow any one person to have that much power. If we ever allow it to be accessed – and I say _if_ only for the cases of extreme circumstances – then it must be with great care. A democratic vote by all nations would be necessary, with essentially unanimous approval."

Jenna, who had been drinking a glass of water, suddenly sprayed the contents of her mouth out in front of her as she suddenly laughed. "Ha! Funny that you favor democracy now that there's finally someone stronger than you. Hasn't it always been your policy that those with power use it as they see fit? I say let her use the power as she wants. If she has been chosen by fate to be the one to change the world, so be it. Let's just rescue her, then let her have her way."

The assembled people mumbled with disapproval, but few were willing to speak out directly against the rather insane ramblings of the most powerful trainer in the world. Lance, however, was one of those few exceptions. "That's preposterous. Cynthia, why is Jenna even here? Shouldn't she be in the hospital still? Or perhaps we should commit her to the loony bin where she belongs? I know that hardly anyone here would tolerate her being here if they weren't scared to death of her."

"Hey, cool it, ginger," Jenna said, unperturbed by his suggestions. "Just because you don't have a soul doesn't mean you can be so mean to little old me. Besides, I'm as fit as a fiddle. Eve got one of her legendary friends to cure me – I won't have another sick day in my life, I bet. Speaking of legendary friends, how do you think they'd feel if you cooped up Eve and kept her from fulfilling her destiny or whatever? I can't imagine they'd be too happy. Arceus especially. Imagine how he'd feel. I mean, he went to all this trouble to set up a terribly complicated process, and just when it's almost reached its completion, you ruin it. Personally, I'd be angry enough to rip all the universes to shreds, locks on my power or not."

More mumbling ensued.

"Everyone, please settle down," Cynthia said, getting everyone's attention. "I do not approve of Jenna's suggestion-"

"I don't give a rattata's gluteus maximus about your approval," Jenna interjected nonchalantly.

"Nor do I care if _she_ cares if I approve," Cynthia continued. "Regardless, we can deal with the matter of what we do with Eve once we get her out of Team Rocket's hands. That is our biggest priority. Based on information that Lance has gathered in the wake of the defeat of the New Republic of Johto's forces, it is likely that what is left of Team Rocket is concentrated here, in Sinnoh. If Team Rocket is planning to summon Arceus, then this is not surprising. We have confirmed sightings of suspicious activity at and around Spear Pillar, which is normally unoccupied due to its hard to reach nature; we believe that these suspicious activities my very well be the work of Team Rocket or some affiliate criminal group. It's not unlikely that Eve is being kept somewhere in this region so that Team Rocket can move quickly as soon as they know that all the pieces of their plans are in place.

"Now, I understand that all of you have many complicated legal pathways that you must take in order to provide any sort of aid in this effort. Some of you may not wish to get involved personally, or may not wish to have anyone from your country involved. However, I have already ensured that I and all the other gym leaders of Sinnoh have the full cooperation of our government in securing Eve, and we have already started searching for her as secretly as possible. I simply ask that all of you join us as soon as is possible, if you are able. The stakes are too high for us not to act."

Cynthia then stepped down from the podium and began to answer questions on an individual level.

Mark, meanwhile, stood in the back of the room next to Katsu and Hope as he tried to gauge the individual reactions of everyone in the room. Unlike everyone else who had to read the sway of people's thoughts from sight alone, Mark had a somewhat heightened awareness of every little move and outward indication of their psychological state.

"So?" Katsu asked; he knew what Mark was doing, since he was supposed to be doing his best to do exactly the same, except with regular sight. "Is there anyone we need to look out for? Anyone who might be more than reluctant to betray old buddies who helped to fund campaigns with Team Rocket's money?"

Mark scowled as he continued to observe all the world leaders present. "The Kanto delegation is definitely not happy about this turn of events. Their government has always been better than Johto's, but Kanto is also the place where Team Rocket has its origins. Many of the gym leaders from there no doubt even knew Giovanni before he disappeared to who knows where. However, they seem shocked that Team Rocket would go this far. At the very least, I don't think they'll hinder our search, even if international law ends up getting bent at some point. Other than that, everyone else seemed shocked and horrified for the right reasons. Roark and Byron still worry me, though… If there's anyone high up in the Sinnoh hierarchy that might be in the pockets of Team Rocket, it's them. Bertha concerns me as well."

"Mark," Hope suddenly said, speaking for the first time in a few days. Ever since Eve's capture, she'd been even more unresponsive and quiet than usual. For this reason, Mark immediately guessed that whatever Hope had to say was important; he ceased paying any attention to the gathered world leaders and instead focused all his attention on Hope as she continued, "Cynthia's speech made me think of something, when she was talking about the fact that Team Rocket would try to manipulate Eve. When Team Rocket first took me back, they tried to induce nightmares in me. In the nightmares, I was killed whenever I disobeyed Team Rocket, even when I couldn't help but disobey. They were just dreams to me. They didn't bother me."

Mark frowned. "Nightmares? So if they didn't bother you, then what did Team Rocket hope to accomplish?"

Hope shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe they thought the dreams would sink in. They did it for about two weeks before they quit."

"Nightmares can be terrifying," Katsu said. "At the very least, having them night after night would make any normal person unstable. And if Team Rocket thinks they can convince people of things through dreams… Well, what if it's true, and they can? They could make anyone think anything they want, given enough time."

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not," Mark said. "Whatever they're trying to do to her to get her to cooperate – whether it's these nightmares or something else – is probably brutal. That is, if they're not just planning on killing her as soon as Arceus has been summoned. Whatever the case is, we have to rescue her."

Mark and Katsu turned their attention back to the conversations of the world leaders. Hope, however, continued to dwell on the matter. Eventually, she either lost interest in the people around her or the matter of the nightmares began to bother her too much for her to sit still. She left the room and walked through the pokémon league until she eventually found herself at the main entrance. She continued out the front entrance to the expansive front lawn. This was as far as she was allowed to go. On this tall plateau, the comings and goings were controlled well enough for it to be completely safe, even for someone that Team Rocket undoubtedly wanted to capture or kill.

She released all of her pokémon onto the lawn. Then, as an afterthought, she let out all of Eve's pokémon. They were still in Hope's possession since the day Hannah had charged into her. To Mark, it had seemed like the best arrangement: both of the things that Team Rocket most wanted to get a hold of would be together, forced to stay within the protection of the pokémon league.

Hope's pokémon instinctually stood at the ready, prepared for whatever sort of training Hope had in store; Eve's pokémon, on the other hand, looked uncertain and depressed.

"We're training," Hope said. "Get ready."

Eve's pokémon barely reacted, except perhaps by looking at Hope in confusion.

"You won't be able to help Eve unless you train."

This elicited more response. Aiden and Hannah immediately perked up, a determined look in there eyes; Pebble stayed relatively calm, though perhaps still slightly down spirited if the drooping of his feathery decorations were anything to go by; Blight and Thistle both stayed depressed, though they tensed in order to be prepared in case the training involved anyone attacking them.

"Team battle," Hope said next, ignoring the fact that not all of Eve's pokémon seemed exactly happy with having to train right now, when they had other things on their mind. "My pokémon versus all of you, Eve's pokémon. Since Eve only has five pokémon, I'll be joining them." She walked over to stand next to Hannah, then said, "Begin."

All of Hope's pokémon began without any reluctance, as did Hannah, Aiden, and Hope to the best of her abilities. The remaining three pokémon had no hesitation about attacking back once the first blow had been dealt, however, and the corner of the lawn that they were using quickly devolved into chaos.

There was a definite difference in styles of how the two teams fought. Hope's pokémon fought aggressively, but not blindly; they often were willing to take a strong hit so that could hit back all the harder in the next moment. Eve's pokémon, meanwhile, were much more defensive and, at least in the cases of Hannah and Pebble, much more strategic. Even when not receiving orders from their trainers, it was clear that the particular battle styles of their respective humans had been ingrained in each of them over time. Though she'd never admit it, maybe this was why Hope had chosen to fight on the side of Eve's pokémon. Perhaps some part of her really and truly missed having Eve around, and she'd found that the training she'd done with Eve's pokémon these last few days had helped her in some way.

Or maybe she simply wanted a battle. To the many people coming and going through the front doors of the pokémon league, this certainly seemed to be the case. She was just another trainer, obsessed with the thrill of the fight.

By unspoken consent, the pokémon kept their attacks at low power so as to get more time out of the training; as such, the battling continued for nearly an hour before Hope called for a long break. Everyone was exhausted, but the training had managed to keep the mind's of Eve's pokémon off of their missing trainer, which in itself was a blessing.

However, the relative peace of the break was soon interrupted when Aiden, still panting from all the work, suddenly stood up and began to whine. He kneaded his front paws against the ground and looked off somewhere south, where the wind was coming from.

Hope stood up and looked off into the distance, but her eyes saw nothing out of the usual. At the base of the waterfall, all she could see was the grove of trees that stretched some way into the distance and the sheer, impassible rocky cliffs that were the outside façades of Sinnoh's Victory Road. She looked back up to the arcanine, who was continuing to act upset.

As Aiden's distress seemed to reach a peak, Pebble slithered over in front of Hope and laid his head and neck down while giving her a meaningful look. For a few moments, Hope simply stared at the dragon, not understanding what he was asking; then, making the best guess she could, she sat down on the dragonair and grabbed onto the serpent's horn.

Immediately, the dragon took off towards the waterfall, ignoring the protests of the watchmen outside the Pokémon League who, in addition to their normal duties, were supposed to make sure that Hope didn't leave. The dragonair hovered for a moment above the top of the waterfall before diving straight down amongst the spray. Hope held onto the horn tightly as the freezing water slammed into her.

Then, in a few moments, the water was gone and Hope found herself in darkness that was constantly pierced by the flickering, ever-changing glistening of sunlight refracting through water. Her knees hit the ground as Pebble lowered his neck once again, and she stood up to look around. She was just behind the waterfall in a cavern that was twenty feet tall and nearly as wide as the waterfall itself. Water trickled down past Hope's feet and deeper in to the cave. Pebble was beginning to follow the path of water, so Hope in turn followed the dragonair.

They hadn't gone far before they were in complete darkness; Pebble solved the problem by making the orbs on his neck and tail glow faintly. In another few moments, that glow was joined by the bluish hue of something somewhere up ahead. A clear, almost chime like growl suddenly rang through the cavern as they continued towards this new light source.

Finally, they rounded a bend and came upon a face that was familiar to both of them. Suicune lay there in a clear pool just barely big enough to allow her to be fully in it, and just barely deep enough to come up an inch at her sides. The glowing came from the ornament on her head, as well as from the many wounds that covered her body. Burns, bites, scratches – every single one of them gave off a slight light, and all of them were ever so slowly mending themselves.

Until they were fully healed, however, Suicune seemed incapable of moving from her position; even her growl was quiet and pitiful. She was exhausted, that much was obvious. A newly hatched cleffa could probably beat the legend as she was now.

"How did this happen?" Hope asked, not really expecting an answer. Suicune growled again, but otherwise said nothing.

Regardless, the wheels were turning in Hope's head. She got the feeling that it was not coincidence that Suicune had found her way here, so close to where Eve's friends were. At the very least, it seemed strange that a pokémon of legend exclusive to Johto myth should be here, in Sinnoh. And by the variety and size of the partly healed wounds, Hope didn't doubt that Suicune had been attacked by multiple trainers.

All she needed to do was add in the fact that Eve could summon Suicune from anywhere in the world, and it wasn't difficult to guess what had happened.

Hope turned around and began to walk towards the entrance of the cave. "Come on, Pebble," she said. "We're getting help. After that, we might just have a chance at finding your trainer."

* * *

So... Two days late. Sorry. I just got distracted by stuff. And while I'd usually just wait another week to update rather than update a couple days late, I really want to finish this fanfic as soon as possible. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's SO CLOSE to being finished. I don't want to drag it out.

Also, many thanks to the writer's club at my college campus. I literally go there for one meeting and give a general summary of what I want to happen, and one guy manages to come up with a major improvement to the climax of the story. ^_^ However, I'm having some major writer's block with how I'm going to set up for that in the next chapter... But I'll keep trying, of course.

Thanks for reading!


	56. Convergence

**Chapter Fifty-Six: Convergence**

"Hey, who still needs a ride?" Jenna asked all of the trainers who were assembled, which included all the Sinnoh gym leaders, most of the Johto leaders, and Cynthia.

Gardenia hesitantly raised her hand in answer to Jenna's question, then had to react quickly to catch the pokéball that Jenna threw at her. "Well, there you go. Flame can take you and a couple others, if there's still anyone lacking transportation."

"Huh?" Gardenia said, looking at the pokéball in her hands. "But what about you?"

Jenna smirked and began walking towards Suicune, who was standing a safe distance away from the group of trainers. "I'm riding Suicune, of course. Might never get another chance like this, after all."

"Are you sure she'll let you?" Roark asked curiously, eyeing the distant legend warily. "She's hardly letting anyone except Hope near her, and that's probably only because she rode Suicune with Eve once."

"Mr. Rock-Headed Roark, I must remind you that Suicune and I go _way_ back," Jenna half-shouted back as she reached Suicune and roughly patted the legend's side. "Ain't that right, Suicune?"

Suicune simply lowered herself to the ground, as if to show that if getting Jenna on her back would speed up their departure, then she was more than willing to let her on. Just so long as they left soon.

Jenna laughed as she unceremoniously jumped onto the regal pokémon's back. "You see, that's the attitude I like to see! Alright, everyone ready, then? 'Cuz ready or not, we're going now! Just make sure you can keep pace – you probably don't want me to hog all the fun for myself when I get there!" The last bit of Jenna's taunting went unheard by those present as Suicune suddenly ran off, not slowing down for even a moment as she approached the ocean. Before Jenna knew it, they were literally running across the waves, heading straight towards the mainland of Kanto.

In the air above Suicune and Jenna, flying pokémon of all sorts worked hard to keep up. Jenna's charizard, Clair's dragonair, Cynthia's togekiss, Faulkner's pidgeot and staraptor… Even Lance's two dragonite were there, despite the fact that the dragon master himself could not come on this particular trip. Lance had given them over to Clair for the moment being, knowing that they'd be needed both for transportation and battle.

They moved with such speed that in just over an hour, they were in the wilds between Hearthome, Pastoria, and Veilstone. It was here that Suicune brought herself to a stop in the middle of what from the air seemed to be just a raised bit of wooded area, but from the ground turned out to be a long, solid complex built into the side of a hill. Deep cracks and holes still marred the concrete façade from when Suicune had tried to find her own way in; over a week had passed since then while Suicune had been recovering, and the flaws in the building had not been mended in even the most temporary of ways.

Jenna nonchalantly jumped off of Suicune's back as the legend growled angrily, something obviously irritating her. "This is it?" Jenna said as she released Silver, her golduck, from his pokéball. "Well, looks like we're a bit too late. No way Eve's in this dump anymore."

Loud sounds of crashing came from somewhere nearby; no doubt the flying pokémon had just managed to catch up, and were making themselves a landing spot in the semi-dense woodland. "Guys! Over here!" Jenna shouted in the direction of the noises. "Looks like we missed Eve, but I do have some Team Rocket goons over here!" As she said this, Silver's psychic attack was in the process of pulling in several trainers in Team Rocket uniforms from various spots around where Suicune and Jenna stood, each of the trainers too immobilized by the telekinetic energy to reach for the pokéballs they had with them.

Jenna ignored their cries of surprise, indignance, and fear; and as soon as they were all floating in the air just in front of her, she said, "Hey, idiots, listen up."

They continued to curse and cry out until Jenna gave her golduck a meaningful glance. All of a sudden, the floating trainers began screaming in pain as the psychic power that held them in the air squeezed them until their eyes were practically bulging. After a few moments, Silver let the pressure subside and Jenna once again called out, "Hey, zubat-brains! I told you to listen up! So you gonna listen?"

Most of the seven trainers quieted down, perhaps mainly because they were recovering form the shock of the pain. One, however, simply cursed all the louder. This time, Jenna didn't even have to look at Silver to give him an order. Knowing what she wanted, he flicked one of his webbed talons off in one direction, and the man was sent flying into a nearby oak tree; the trainer screamed, but the yell was quickly cut off by the cracking sound that was given off on impact.

Jenna grimaced, yet this expression on her face was mocking and unsympathetic. "Hope that didn't break his spine. I'd hate to have one less person to torture information out of. Anyway, you idiots going to be quiet now?" They said nothing. Jenna nodded with satisfaction. "You probably just thought that only Suicune would come back here, and so you were lying in wait to capture her. Bet you've even got some pretty strong pokémon with you. Isn't that right, you filthy, grimer-filled sleezebags?"

Fearful of what Jenna might do if they didn't answer, all six nodded their heads.

"All right, so here's what's gonna happen. All my gym leader and champion friends are going to make their way over to us in just a couple minutes. Even once they get here, though, I'm not letting you go until you tell me what you bidoof-brained halfwits know about where Eve is right now. Well, I guess I _could_ let you go before then, but only if you want to be let go like the late Mr. Halfwit over there." She jerked her head over to the still, crumpled figure next to the tree. "It's not a particularly ethical way to get things done, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I have the morals of an murkrow and the scruples of a seviper. So, who's gonna be the guy to win my favor and tell me where Eve is?"

The men's eyes zipped back and forth as they looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.

Jenna let only a few more seconds of this pass before she gestured for Silver to bring the floating humans closer to Suicune. "Alternately, I could give Suicune free reign to use her full power on you six. Now that I'm seeing what she did to this building, I doubt that'd be particularly pleasant."

"We don't know!" said one of them desperately. "We didn't even know where here was until this base was abandoned! Security is ten times what it used to be. All we'd be able to tell you is where we're supposed to report to in the event we captured Suicune!"

"That's not even close to good enough," Jenna replied as she gave the gesture for Silver to drop that guy to the ground about seven feet below him; a snapping sound told Jenna that he'd broken his arm when he tried to cushion his fall. Before the man could recover, the pokeballs at his belt went flying away from him and to Jenna's feet. Knowing that he was now completely defenseless, Jenna said, "Suicune, if you will."

"Jenna! Suicune! You can't be doing that!" Cynthia said as she and the others finally broke through the trees into the clearing. "We need information, but we're not killing them!"

Jenna tilted her head and looked at Cynthia curiously. "We're not?" she asked innocently. "Well, guess I'll need to clean up that guy over there. We can just pretend he wasn't here, can't we?" She looked over to the guy by the tree; it was easy to tell that he definitely wasn't breathing. "Besides, I didn't want Suicune to kill him. Only maim him a little. You know, like a divine punishment sorta thing. He kidnaps Suicune's friend, so Suicune bites his face off. It's only fair. Go on, Suicune. We need to make a point."

Suicune hesitated, however, despite the growl that was still loud in her throat.

Rolling her eyes, Jenna let out her nidoqueen, Stella. "Fine, fine, guess I need someone with a few less scruples. Nidoqueen, your punching bag is lying on the ground over there. Try not to kill him, please."

Stella roared happily and charged towards the fearful human, only to be suddenly blocked by Cynthia's garchomp. "Jenna, I said that we're not doing this," Cynthia said darkly. "We don't have time to fight with you here. You're outnumbered."

"You think I care about that? I'd still manage to kick your butts anyway," Jenna said. "Besides, if you don't have your garchomp move, then I simply order Silver to increase the pressure of his psychic attack until these guys turn into little bloody balls of flesh and bone. Are you really going to keep the one guy from getting maimed, only to kill the rest of them off? It's your choice."

The man on the ground looked to Cynthia pleadingly, but there was really nothing the champion could do. Jenna wouldn't hesitate to kill them all, and Cynthia knew it. "Garchomp, stand down. Let Stella do as she pleases."

The garchomp was just as angry as her master when she stepped back towards her trainer, clearing the way for nearly a ton of muscle and rough scale to slam into the screaming man. The man went skidding farther away on impact. He'd barely had a chance to catch his breath when the nidoqueen's thick tail slammed into him, hitting him straight up into the air so that Stella could slam an electricity-laden fist into his stomach as he fell back towards the ground.

Jenna ignored both the actions of her pokémon and the cries of the man as she turned back to the remaining five trainers. "Now, who's going to talk? And you'd better say something useful."

A blond haired man spoke up. "1515 Sunflora Lane, Hearthome City. That's where we were supposed to report to." Sweat dripped down his face as he spoke. "From there, Suicune probably would have been put into the hands of someone higher up than us, and we would have been blindfolded before being sent to a base, if that's where we were needed to be. Or perhaps we would've been sent on a mission."

"There we go. Getting right to the point. I like that," Jenna said as everyone but the one who had just spoken dropped to the ground; like before, their pokéballs seemed to fly away from them of their own accord, as did the pokéballs of the man still in the air. "Oh, and Stella, you can stop now," she said as she returned the nidoqueen to her pokéball, stopping her from harming the bloody pulp of a person any further. Jenna turned back to the man still floating in the air and said, "So what's your name?"

The man did not seem reassured by Jenna's seemingly positive attention. Especially since he was the only one still in the air. "John. John Stevenson," he answered nervously.

"Okay, so here's the deal," Jenna said. "Gardenia, toss me Flame's pokéball, will ya?" Gardenia looked to Cynthia doubtfully, and the champion gave her the okay. As soon as the pokéball was back in Jenna's hand, she let out the dragon inside. "You, Mr. Stevenson, will be coming with me. You try to resist, I kill you. We get to this 1515 Pansy Street or whatever it is and there turns out to be no one there, then I kill you. If any of these dolts follow me," she cast a glance over to Cynthia and the gym leaders, "then I kill you. Deal? No, don't answer that, of course it's a deal. Otherwise I'd just have to kill you now and move on to one of your friends. All right, let's go." The man was suddenly thrown onto Flame's back, and he was soon followed by Silver himself climbing on, then Jenna.

Before Flame took off, however, Jenna had one last thing to say. She turned to the remaining four Team Rocket members and said to them, "Oh, and you'd better make sure to tell Cynthia and everyone else everything you know. 'Cuz trust me, I'll find you and kill you if you don't, no matter how many trainers are assigned to protect you. Believe it or not, all those gym leaders over there are even more incompetent than you are, when it comes down to it."

Then, with a slight tap to the charizard's sides, Flame had blast-burned a way through the trees just above them and was flying through the hot cinders, away from the Rockets and gym leaders and champion.

Candice suddenly stepped forward, pokéball in hand. "That girl makes me so angry, thinking she can always do whatever she wants! Can we go after her?"

Volkner chuckled, an amused smirk on his face. "The only reason you hate her so much is because you're still angry that her charizard destroyed you single-handedly when Jenna was still taking on the gym challenge," he said. "Personally, I think she's got the right idea. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, we can't go after her. She'll kill the guy, and I'm sure everyone cares so deeply for that piece of scum that we couldn't _possibly_ let that happen."

"Volkner's right about going after her, though I don't appreciate the sarcasm," Cynthia said, glaring at him. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Sinnoh gym leaders, I want you to escort our prisoners back to the Pokémon League. If Suicune wishes to go with you, then make sure you accompany her. Johto gym leaders, if you would be so kind as to thoroughly investigate this place, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might indicate where Eve has gone or what Team Rocket is planning to do with her."

"And you?" asked Gardenia.

Cynthia recalled her garchomp to her pokéball, then let out her togekiss. "I'm going after Jenna, of course. I can't let her get too out of hand."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The nightmare-reality was going on for much longer than it ever had before. It had started with just the pokémon chasing her and biting her and burning her and killing her, as they always did in these dreams, if they were dreams. Then, her persecutors had changed into Mark, Jenna, Cynthia, Hope, and Katsu, among many others. All of them were ordering their pokémon to destroy her so utterly that not even a scavenging rattata would find a piece left to nibble at. Hope especially was emphasized as being totally and completely heartless. In the context of the dream, it was clear that Hope needed to die. She could not be allowed to live.

After what felt like hours and hours – or maybe days and days – of this seemingly never ending nightmare – or was it reality? – Brian finally came as he always did, to put an end to it. But this time, something changed. In the many times before this, Brian's voice had always told Eve to go back to sleep, and she would always wake up – or maybe it was fall asleep – in that small room with the litwick, the litwick that now constantly horrified her, even though she knew it was a trainer's pokémon. But now, Brian told her something different.

_Stay awake. _That's what the voice that echoed through Eve's head said. He should be telling her to go to sleep. Eve knew that. What was going on? _Close your eyes, but stay awake. Trust me, and trust Team Rocket. If you trust us, then when you open your eyes again, we'll finally be able to save you from all these pokémon and people that attack you in your waking hours. So, do you trust us? Do you want out of this never-ending horror?_

"Yes, of course!" the dream Eve said. There was nothing else that could be said; the dream Eve trusted Brian completely. Everything that had been presented to her these past weeks could lead her only to trust in him, and to despise wild pokémon, and to fear trainers who sympathized with wild pokémon. It would have been illogical for her to do anything _but_ trust him.

_Then close your eyes_, the dream Brian said as he and his pokémon continued to fight off the vicious pokémon that had been attacking Eve. _When you open them, these monsters will finally be gone, and Team Rocket will always be there to protect you._

Eve closed her eyes for what felt like five seconds, then opened her eyes to find herself in a very soft, very comfortable bed in small but well-furnished room. Brian was sitting at the small desk that was in the opposite corner of the room, apparently writing something down on a piece of paper.

As soon Eve began to sit up, Brian heard the noise and turned in his chair to face Eve. "You feeling okay?" he asked with what seemed to be genuine concern. "You've been asleep awhile… Then again, after all that you've been through, I can hardly blame you for sleeping a while."

"After all I've been through?" Eve asked, rubbing her eyes and looking herself over. She was wearing what was, essentially, the all-black Team Rocket uniform, minus the big red 'R'. "And, um, what exactly was it that I've been through? I remember…" Images of vicious pokémon and friends turned enemies flashed through her mind. _It all seems like something from a dream… But it really happened. I just don't want to believe it… It was all so horrible. But of course it was true._

"You don't remember?" Brian asked. "I guess that poison might have affected your memory retention during the time… Are you sure you want to know? I'd just as soon spare you from the details, if you'd let me."

Eve turned her body so that her legs hung off the side of the bed. "I'm sure. If something terrible happened, I won't just run from it."

Brian nodded solemnly. "It was right after you and I spoke with Jirachi. When we came out of the cave, Mark, Hope, and Katsu ambushed us. Mark managed to stab you with a poisoned knife right off the bat, and the blood loss mixed with the poison almost immediately put you out of action. I managed to get you away on my skarmory, and Team Rocket helped to figure out the antidote before the poison could kill you, but… I'm sorry, but they managed to grab your pokémon in the struggle."

Eve reached up to her shoulder and felt the scar tissue that was growing in beneath the scabbing and stitches. She remembered the pain of the blade piercing her shoulder, and the doubt and denial when she had understood that she had been betrayed. _Mark and Hope and Katsu… I trusted you all. Why? _

Yet even as she asked herself the question, parts of her mind seemed to fill in the gaps. There wasn't anything specific filling those gaps; everything just suddenly seemed to make sense. She'd been misled this whole time. She'd even been fooling herself for years. It wasn't just Mark, Hope, and Katsu she'd trusted; she had also put her trust in pretty much every single pokémon she'd ever met. Now she knew that that had been stupid. They were monsters. Under humans' control they were fine, but wild… They couldn't be allowed to roam free. It was dangerous. _How could I not have realized that before now?_

"But my own pokémon… Are they okay?" Eve asked, not for a second doubting Brian's statements, even as part of her deep down felt uneasy for some reason that she couldn't pin down.

"I'm sure they're okay," Brian assured her. "Mark and the others have joined up with Cynthia, and she's doing all she can to get a hold of you. She's been using your pokémon as bargaining chips. They want to convince you that you'll be reunited with your pokémon, just so long as you hand yourself over to them and promise not to summon Arceus. We – that is, Team Rocket – think that they'll just kill you as soon as they get the chance. Cynthia and the other governments she's working with just want to maintain the status quo, and they know that you're very existence threatens their power. But of course, Team Rocket doesn't want to keep you from your pokémon if you'd prefer to trust Cynthia, Mark, and the others with your fate." Brian stood, then held out his hand to Eve to help her stand up. "So I suppose the question is this: do you trust me and Team Rocket to help you no matter what?"

Eve reached out her hand to grab his, but something within her made her stop just before her hand touched his. Some part of her simply wouldn't let her come in contact with his palm. But she quickly shook off the strange instinct, and took his hand without any further hesitation. "Of course I trust you and Team Rocket. You helped save me from Mark and the others in the first place, after all."

Brian smiled as he pulled her to her feet. She wobbled slightly, her legs surprisingly weak, but Brian held her steady.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Brian said, "just what is it you intend to do with Arceus's power? I know at one time you wanted to make things so that humans and wild pokémon had a more balanced state of affairs, but is that still how you feel?"

"No, no, I couldn't do that now!" Eve said, shaking her head vigorously and nearly causing herself to fall back down on the bed; yet again, Brian steadied her. "I mean, I still love my own pokémon, and your pokémon, and other pokémon I know… But I realize now that letting wild pokémon roam free is much too dangerous. It's not practical for humans to live alongside wild pokémon – there's no way to control wild pokémon. So I guess I'll have to come up with a way to keep humans in better control of pokémon."

Once again, Eve felt unease filling her as she spoke, but she couldn't figure out why. What she was saying made perfect sense. Even her ability to talk to pokémon had never kept angry pokémon from getting out of control, nor had it prevented those vicious pokémon from her dreams – except she knew they weren't dreams – from attacking her over and over again.

Brian let a relieved smile show on his face. "I'm glad to hear it. Of course, ultimately, it's your call. You're the one who Arceus is allowing to summon him. So if that's how you feel, then I have another question for you… If you still want to summon Arceus, then what do you want to do about Hope?"

"I don't know," Eve said, frowning. "I mean, she's a horrible person, but I can't bring myself to want her to die, even by accident. No one deserves that, even if she helped Mark and Katsu try to kill me."

"But what about all the good you could do once you have Arceus's power?" Brian said, his smile fading slightly. "Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. Hope doesn't deserve to die, even if I hate her for what she helped Mark and Katsu try to do to you. But Team Rocket… I know that they want to fully enable you to do whatever it is you want to do. They're planning on killing Hope, or at least capturing her so that they can figure out how to give her feather to you. It's terrible, I know, but I just wanted to warn you. I can try talking to them, if you want, but-"

"Yes, please," Eve interrupted. "I mean, I know I can't choose what Team Rocket does, and I really don't want to force my opinion on them, since they saved me and all. But them killing her seems horrible, especially if it's to try to help me. I mean, I really want to summon Arceus, but I can't let them kill Hope if I can help it. I'd feel responsible."

Brian nodded understandingly. "Of course. I'll talk with them and try to convince them against it. Until then, you have the run of this place, pretty much. There are some rooms in this complex that are for research and such, and so you'll be banned from those places. But other than that, feel free to explore. Or, alternately, I could just show you around right now."

Eve's hand was still in Brian's, and she suddenly squeezed his hand all the tighter, despite the fact that she was more stable on her feet now. "I'd appreciate that. Especially if you showed me to some food first. I'm starving."

"Then to the cafeteria we go," Brian said, squeezing her hand in return as he smiled at her warmly.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Hope, her pokémon, Eve's pokémon, and Suicune were all sitting out in front of the Sinnoh Pokémon League, for once completely inactive. A strange mood had come over Hope, and for once she had called out all her pokémon without beginning a training session. Hope's pokémon were troubled by this, knowing that something was wrong with their trainer. Eve's pokémon, meanwhile, seemed content to finally have a chance to be out of their pokéballs without battling; if Hope had had to guess, she thought that perhaps they were using this chance to talk to Suicune and learn about what had happened a week ago, when she, Cynthia, Jenna, and the gym leaders had gone to try to rescue Eve.

In the time since then, Jenna's ruthlessness had only gotten her so far in the search for Eve. She had only been able to follow the path of Rockets through a couple links in the chain of command before she reached a guy who literally allowed himself to be beaten and clawed nearly to death by her sandslash without giving away any information. The Rocket members captured along the way were slowly giving away bits of information, but they rarely said anything of importance. They simply didn't know much.

Ever since the unsuccessful return of Suicune and all the trainers who had accompanied her, unease had settled into Hope's mind whenever she had a spare moment between training sessions. She felt that even though the Rocket-induced nightmares hadn't affected her, they might have a big effect on Eve. And she felt that the longer Eve was kept under Team Rocket's influence, the more likely her mind would be destroyed in some manner. Perhaps the nightmares could really influence her; or maybe she would just disintegrate into a bundle of nerves.

And what so disturbed Hope about all this was that she actually cared. The thoughts of what might be happening to Eve sat constantly in the back of her mind. It was like the last time Eve had been under Team Rocket's control; and in that instance, Eve's entrapment had ended with Hope actually and purposefully helping. She'd waited this long for Cynthia and the others to solve things, but deep down, she felt that she would yet again have to be the one to help Eve.

Suddenly, Hope stood up, drawing the attention of all twelve pokémon around her. "We're going to get Eve," she said flatly. Suicune and all of Eve's pokémon practically leaped to their feet in excitement, drawing the attention of the Pokémon League's guards.

Hope remained looking as apathetic as ever; and perhaps, to an extent, this was still a good expression of her current mental state. Though she felt moved to do something, she still couldn't understand why; though she was sure that she had to help Eve, she still couldn't honestly feel that she was Eve's friend. "Suicune, I'm riding on you. Thistle, I'll need you to cover us from the air until we've lost the guards that will follow us. Understand?"

The pokémon couldn't answer, but their readiness was apparent in their eyes. Hope pulled out her pokéballs and returned all of her pokémon and all of Eve's pokémon, aside from Thistle. Suicune knelt down and, before the guards could have possibly guessed what was happening, Hope was on her back and Suicune was dashing away, running practically straight down the sides of the Pokémon League's plateau.

Thistle took off and flew after them for nearly a minute before the fastest of the flying pokémon caught up. Suicune paused and stood atop the waves as Thistle began to fight off the pidgeot and staraptor that now tried to get past her to Suicune. Of course, itt wasn't difficult for one of the smaller, faster birds to fight Thistle as the other swooped down towards Suicune and Hope. A quick, accurate ice beam attack sent that bird with trainer on its back crashing into the ocean, while a misplaced wingbeat from Thistle sent the other spiraling downwards, one of its wings either sprained, dislocated, or broken.

More flying types approached, but none of them were fast enough to keep up as Thistle and Suicune continued on across the ocean. Eventually, the pursuers faded into nothing and Hope recalled Thistle to her pokéball; but Suicune still continued at full speed, only changing direction when Hope tapped her on one side or the other.

They reached land quickly, and Hope called Suicune to a stop as soon as they were close to Veilstone City. She left Suicune – telling her that she'd be back before nightfall – then headed into the heart of town, where she wouldn't be noticed among the crowds. A pay phone was all she needed. She easily found one, gave up a few coins, and then dialed one of the several numbers she had been forced to memorize upon her entrance into Team Rocket all those years ago. They were, in essence, emergency numbers – ways to get a hold of Team Rocket in case an individual was separated from his group during a mission.

The ringing was quickly cut off as a pleasant feminine voice answered, "Hello, this is Vermillion Electric Corporation. How may I help you?"

Hope knew this was just a rehearsed response meant to throw off anyone who dialed this number by accident. She wasted no time getting to the point. "I'm calling on Team Rocket matters. This is Hope – your higher-ups will recognize my name, even if you don't. Tell them I will come to Spear Pillar at noon tomorrow, alone, but only if Eve is there. I will not show up if she isn't there. Whether they believe it or not, this is not a trap for them. I just want to talk to Eve before they eventually find and kill me when I'm not prepared. I know that the Sinnoh government is quickly catching up with them, so I suggest they consider the offer before their time runs out."

With that, Hope hung up the phone and walked quickly back out of the city, to where Suicune still waited for her.

"Let me on," Hope said. "We're getting as far away from all humans as possible. We can't be found before tomorrow."

Suicune stayed standing upright for a few moments, as if expectant.

Hope knew that Suicune was no dumb pokémon, and so she briefly explained, "I have a plan, but we have to wait for tomorrow. That's when we find Eve. I'll tell you what we're doing just as soon as we're safe for the night."

This seemed to be enough for Suicune. She bent down, and soon the two were off. Hope knew there was no turning back now. Events had been set in motion. Now, all that remained to be seen was how everything would play out.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"They're not telling you anything now, are they?" Mark asked as he sat down next to Jenna in what was the Pokémon League's equivalent of a food court. "Not since you went out of control on the Suicune mission."

"No, the stupid little weak-willed so-called 'leaders' here aren't telling me anything," Jenna said, stabbing the meal in front of her with vehemence. "And I really want to know what everyone was freaking out about earlier. You gonna take pity on my ignorance and tell me?"

Mark looked at her gravely. "Yes, but only if you help me in return."

Jenna dropped her fork and looked at Mark with renewed curiosity. "In the end, my helping you depends on whether or not I want to help with whatever it is you want helping with. You gonna tell me anyway?"

A few seconds elapsed as Mark thought. Then, he said, "Hope left the Pokémon League today on Suicune. She took Eve's pokémon with her."

Jenna grinned. "You have my attention. So tell me, what is it you want from me?"

"Just help me make sense of it, because nothing I think of can explain it," Mark said. "I know that Suicune wouldn't go anywhere or do anything unless she thought it was to Eve's benefit. And, strangely enough, I think the same of Hope. But we all know that the best thing for Eve at the moment is for Hope to remain safe here, since Team Rocket might very well kill Eve just as soon as Arceus is summoned. I believe even Suicune probably understood that. So why leave? What do they hope to accomplish?"

"An interesting conundrum you have," Jenna said as she pushed her plate away from her and laid her head down on her arms, so that she was now looking up at Mark. "Why indeed would they leave? Has Hope said anything to you in the last week or so? Maybe she didn't actually feel safe here. Maybe she thought that her assassination was nigh, and that she'd be safer if no one knew where she was."

Mark shook his head. "She hasn't said anything to me in nearly two weeks. Not since Cynthia first called everyone here… Wait. Maybe it has something to do with that – she thought the nightmares – oh, what was it? Katsu, get over here!"

Katsu, who was walking past with his own dinner in his hands, sat down without complaint. "What's wrong?"

"Everything, but mainly I just need you to tell me what Hope told us about the nightmares or whatever that Team Rocket gave her," Mark said. "She seemed worried about it back when she mentioned it, didn't she?"

"She never really seems worried about anything," Katsu said. "But the fact that she even mentioned it probably means that it was at least on her mind."

"Nightmares, huh?" Jenna asked. "And what exactly did these nightmares entail?"

"The glorification of Team Rocket, if I recall correctly," Katsu said. "She also said that she always died if she disobeyed Team Rocket within the dreams."

Jenna smirked. "While you two may have been ignoring Hope these past couple of weeks, I have not. She interests me. She hasn't been training as much as the days have progressed. This tells me that something's been on her mind. Let us assume it is the idea of these nightmares. Perhaps she's so worried about what Eve is going through that she decided to take matters into her own hands. Would that make sense?"

"Not at all," Mark said. "She doesn't worry. She doesn't care about anything, period."

"Oh, come now, my dear blind comrade!" Jenna said. "Surely your eyes don't keep you from seeing that Hope without any motivation wouldn't be even a tenth the trainer she is. She's equal to a gym leader's strength, for crying out loud! And if she's been preoccupied these past few days despite the fact that she's had all the time in the world to train, then surely she has some concern beyond her pokémon's strength. So let us again make the assumption that Hope is going to Eve's rescue, despite the fact that I am sure she doesn't know where Eve is. What could she do?"

Mark and Katsu thought for a moment. "Surely she has some contacts within Team Rocket," Katsu suggested after a time. "She could try to force them to tell her where Eve is."

"Good, good!" Jenna replied. "I came up with a similar thought. However, unlike you, I was smart enough to realize that Hope isn't dumb. If she was going to do that, she simply could have told me how to find those contacts, and you can be sure I would've figured out what they know. Instead, let's focus on the fact that Suicune, Eve's pokémon, and Hope herself are probably the most powerful bargaining chips in the game as of now. Hope knows that, which is why she didn't inform us that she was going to try something. Cynthia and the others would never have agreed to something that could possibly get her killed. So the question is, just what would that be?"

"Revealing herself to Team Rocket would be the worst thing she could do right now," Mark suggested. "So perhaps she says that she will give herself over to them if… if what? What could she possibly hope to gain if she gets herself captured?"

"It has to be something that she thought only she could do," Jenna said, some excitement rising in her voice as she sat upright again.

"Or something only Eve's pokémon could do," Katsu added. "She wouldn't have brought them with her if they weren't important. She knows how much leverage they could give Team Rocket over her, if she were killed and they taken into Team Rocket's possession."

Jenna suddenly stood up. "Okay, I'm done with trying to logic stuff out. I'm going. You two gonna come?"

"Going where?" Mark said. "You know that Cynthia isn't going to-"

"Cynthia's an overly-controlling know-it-all witch, and I'd swim through a see of muk and grimer sludge before listening to a thing she says," Jenna interrupted. "I trust my instincts, and they're saying that I'll find Eve if I just tear up enough of the Sinnoh region to root out Team Rocket's hiding spot. So I repeat: are you two absol-cursed sons-of-jynx coming, or not?"

"But there's already teams of people sweeping the Sinnoh region for any sign of Hope and Suicune," Katsu said. "If they can't find Hope-"

"They aren't me, though, are they?" Jenna said. "Those mediocre trainers probably couldn't house train a skitty, nonetheless use their pokémon to find hay in a haystack. They don't know instinct from a bite on the butt. When _I _go looking for something, it's not a matter of _if_ I'll find it – it's _when _that finding will happen, and who's gonna get their sorry butts kicked in the process. Anyway, Arceus help me from having my ninetails burn you to ashes if I have to ask one more time. What's your answer?"

Mark stood up. "I chose to talk to you about this for a reason. You're the only one here who has dealt with a god and survived. If anyone can get things done, I don't doubt that it's you. If you think that you can find Eve, then I'm coming."

Katsu stayed hesitant for a bit longer, but Mark's vote of confidence eventually got the better of him. "Count me in, so long as you'll let me call Cynthia and the others in as soon as we find them."

Jenna laughed. "Fine, whatever. I'll have killed everyone who's in my way by the time they reach us, anyway." Then, suddenly, Jenna shouted in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear: "Hey, idiots! Someone let Cynthia know that we're off to find Eve and Hope! See you again when I've got 'em back!" And then, again, in a lower voice, she said, "Tim, this is when you teleport us to the mainland to begin our search."

Tim apparently felt no reason to wait for his trainer's approval. In another moment, the trio of humans had disappeared from the sight of everyone in the cafeteria.

It was dark outside wherever they reappeared. The sun had already set, and heavy clouds blocked the stars and moon from view. Tension hung in the air. A storm was coming. Perhaps the greatest storm the world had ever known; perhaps a storm even greater that the tempest of spatial distortions Jenna herself had managed to end with the defeat of Palkia.

Now that she was outside and away from the oppressive atmosphere of the Pokémon League, Jenna could feel this tension in the air, tension that came only partially from the building storm.

An insane grin suddenly spread on Jenna's face as excitement glinted in her eyes. "Tomorrow's the day," she said, with no doubt whatsoever in her voice. "Tomorrow decides everything. We've gotta find Hope and Eve – I'd take back all the health problems Palkia gave to me and more, if only to see what happens next."

* * *

As far as I'm concerned, Jenna is essentially the female, pokémon-world version of Chuck Norris. I love her, insanity and all.

But anyway, this is IT. The moment you've all been waiting for. Next chapter is the climax - it might end up stretching into two chapters (which is what I'd like to do), or maybe I'll just keep it at one (which is what I think will happen). Depends on whichever works best.

PREPARE YOURSELF.

THE END IS NIGH.


	57. Memory

**Chapter Fifty-Seven: Memory**

It was like nothing Eve had ever seen. Tempest-like winds blew with enough strength to knock Eve off her feet; if not for the stability granted her by the spear-like pillar she leaned against, she would have fallen to the ground long ago. Still, the pillar could not protect her from the biting sting of the rain and sleet that slammed into her; the rain jacket that Brian had given her did little to take the bite out of the constant barrage. Lightning flashed around her, seemingly with a life of its own; it always seemed to come dangerously close to her before being drawn in by the lightningrod ability of one of Team Rocket's zebstrika.

"Maybe this was a bad idea!" Brian yelled over the roar of the storm as he huddled against the pillar with Eve; Eve clung to his arm as if he was capable of stopping the frightening power of the storm, if only she could manage to put her trust in him more fully than it already was. Brian's ursaring hovered over both humans, using his own body as a shield to do what little he could to protect them from the elements. Brian continued, "Eve, are you sure you want to go through with this? Even in better weather conditions, what we're trying is dangerous! Hope claimed that she would come alone, and that she just wanted to talk. But it might be a trap! We don't want you putting yourself at risk!"

"It's fine, really!" she said, though she winced and clung to him all the tighter as another bolt of lightning flashed quite literally just above her head. "If this is the only way for Team Rocket to capture rather than kill Hope, then it's worth the risk. Besides, I really do think that she'll come alone. I'm not sure why, but it seems like something she'd do."

Brian peered past his ursaring and into the murk that surrounded them. "At this rate, it'll be a miracle if she can even find us in this downpour. Perhaps she's not even coming. Maybe she's calling it quits, and will try to contact us another time."

Eve shook her head. "Hope wouldn't do that. I doubt she even feels the difference between a drizzle and weather like this." As a casual afterthought, Eve added, "I didn't even think that it could storm this high in the mountains. I had always heard that snow didn't even fall on this place."

Brian smiled. "Maybe this is Arceus's way of welcoming you – showing off all his power for you to see. It is said that this mountain peak was the first thing Arceus created in the whole world."

"Well, Arceus, I don't appreciate this sort of welcome!" Eve shouted jokingly to the sky as lightning flashed and thunder completely drowned out her voice. "Next time, make flowers grow like Shaymin can! That was the best sort of welcome I've ever received."

Eve was afraid, of that there was no doubt. She was afraid of the raw power that surrounded her, attacking her in the form of lightning and wind, ice and rain. She was frightened of coming face-to-face with Hope, one of the three people who had tried to kill her those several weeks ago. And she was terrified of Arceus, and what she would do once she somehow managed to summon him.

Yet despite her fear, she was sure of herself. Or, perhaps more accurately, she was sure of her trust in Brian and Team Rocket. They were all that was good and kind in Eve's life now. She trusted them completely with her safety. As long as they watched over her, she knew she would be fine. Even the summoning of Arceus seemed less daunting, so long as Team Rocket was involved; if she didn't know what to do with Arceus's power, she knew there were many wiser, more philosophical and more practical people within Team Rocket who could advise her concerning the best courses of action. Brian had assured her that they would be there for her, so that the fate of the world might not rest entirely on her shoulders.

Still, there remained that one nagging voice in the back of her mind, telling her that something was not right. But what did that one little feeling matter, in comparison to the wonderful bliss of believing that her trust was not misplaced?

~Eve, I need you to act like you don't hear me, but – oh, it's you! We were all so worried!~

Eve scowled momentarily, but then joy lit up her face. ~Blight, is that you?~ she asked, looking around slightly despite the ghost's warning to act like nothing was happening.

~Yeah, but I'm invisible right now, so you won't see me!~ Blight said. ~I'm so glad that you're here! Now, Hope told me to tell you that you just need to make a break for it – it doesn't matter where. Just run away from Brian and Ursaring so that Suicune can pick you up more easily. And then we'll be gone from here!~

Shivering, Eve unconsciously shook her head slightly. ~No, that's the last thing I want to do! I don't know what Suicune and Hope told you they're trying to do, but the truth is that they want to kill me! I'm not just going to hand myself over to them!~

~Kill you?~ Blight asked, her voice suddenly concerned. ~I don't think either of them want to do that… It's hard to tell with Hope, I suppose, but I know that Suicune would never even think of doing anything to hurt you!~

"Are you okay?" Brian suddenly asked. "You look preoccupied… Are you really sure you want to do this?"

"Oh, yes! More than ever!" she said before she could stop herself, thinking of how nice it was to talk with Blight, and how close the rest of her pokémon might be.

Brian seemed perplexed by her answer, but he shrugged it off and went back to peering off into the darkness.

Eve returned her attention to her invisible friend. ~Blight, you don't understand. They _will_ kill me. I know it.~

Eve waited for a response, but none came.

~Blight?~

Still no response.

Just then, a particularly illuminating flash of lightning seemed to snake around Mt. Coronet itself before directing itself towards the zebstrika's mane. In the few moments of clarity it afforded Eve, she saw the black silhouette of the creature that had haunted her nightmares. The creature wasn't exactly how she remembered her – the horns had been replaced by an elegant crest, and her ruby red eyes did not glow with malice – and yet the sight of Suicune still managed to inspire horror in Eve.

Eve only managed to let out her scream when the monster had already attacked. Suicune first slammed her body into Ursaring; her speed was so great that the ursaring was sent rolling down the mountainside. Likewise, she kicked out with one of her back legs, and Brian was sent tumbling after his pokémon.

All the wind and rain and noise was suddenly cut off as Suicune's crystal barrier sprang into existence, encompassing a majority of Spear Pillar. No Team Rocket members were within this protective shield; most of them had been in a tight circle around the top of the mountain, ready to capture or kill Hope once she had come. Of course, no one in Team Rocket had guessed that Suicune would come. As far as they had known, Suicune had died of the injuries she had sustained while trying to rescue Eve, and Cynthia had discovered the location of the old base through other means.

In the sudden calm silence of the large, protected area, Eve's mind forgot the storm outside and became fully focused on the horrifying situation she found herself in. Eve now realized that the beautiful fiend standing before her was not her only problem; now that they were outside of Team Rocket's grasp, Hope slid off of Suicune's back, and Eve felt even more terror sink into her.

Yet, somehow, another part of her rejoiced at the sight of both Suicune and Hope. Eve easily ignored that misguided part of her. Compared to the fear she felt, it was nothing worth noticing.

~Eve, what's wrong?~ Suicune said as she looked at the obviously frightened girl she had come to save.

Eve simply stared back at her, too terrified to speak. Even at such a close distance, Suicune seemed like some vicious specter in the dimness; the lack of rain within the confines of Suicune's barrier did little to improve visibility. Only the frequent flashes of lightning allowed Eve to see the demon in front of her.

~Don't just stand there,~ Suicune continued, for the moment brushing away the fact that Eve was so clearly terrified of the sight of her. ~We have to hurry! They're already attacking my barrier, you can see that!~ Sure enough, the ranks of Rockets who had come to help with this mission had called out their pokémon to try to bash down the wall. ~It drains my energy to maintain it while it's taking damage. If I faint, then we'll be stuck in here until I wake up. And if that happens, Team Rocket will have plenty of time to prepare to recapture you. So let's go!~

"No! Get away from me!" Eve said, backing up from both Hope and Suicune.

Blight floated up to Eve, worry in her eyes. ~Hope told me that you might be like this – that's why I went back to get them to force you to come. Please, Eve. We have to get you out of here! We have to get you back to safety!~

"I'm safe as long as I'm with Team Rocket!" Eve shouted back, too scared to limit herself to pokémon speech.

"And how's that working out for you?" Hope suddenly said, stepping forward. "If they're supposed to keep you safe, how did Suicune and I get close?"

Eve backed up even further. "No! Get away! Team Rocket will still save me!"

Suicune took a step forward, looking as if to force Eve to come. But Hope held out a hand, indicating for her to stop. "Eve, how do you see Suicune and I?"

"You're both monsters!" Eve shouted out instinctually. In a more controlled setting, she might have been able to talk to Hope reasonably. But now that she believed herself to be totally at Hope's mercy, she was afraid. "You're going to kill me!"

Suicune flinched back, looking hurt by the accusation. Hope, on the other hand, stepped ever closer. Eve tried to back away, but she found herself backed into one of the corners of the barrier. "And what do you plan to do with Arceus's power?" Hope continued, unperturbed by Eve's accusations.

"I'm going to make it so that humans don't have to feel threatened by pokémon!" Eve said.

"Then you aren't the Eve I came here to save," Hope said, sadness audible in her voice. The two girls were now face-to-face. Without looking down, Hope unclipped something from her waist and pushed it into Eve's hands. "Take them, and let them out of their pokéballs."

Eve looked down as Hope suddenly turned around and walked back to the opposite end of Suicune's field of protection; in her hands was the pouch that Mark had given her, and in it were all of her pokéballs.

She didn't question why Hope had asked her to let them out; she was only too willing to oblige, desperate as she was for both protection and reunion. As soon as all of her pokémon were out of their pokéballs, they swarmed around her, licking and nudging and rubbing her as much as possible, as if making up for the weeks of lost companionship.

Their reunion was cut short when Hope let out her own pokémon at her side of the protected area and said once again, "You aren't the Eve I came here to save."

Eve's pokémon looked at Hope questioningly, while fear yet again entered Eve's heart.

"You stand in the way of all Eve ever stood for," Hope continued. Her voice was as flat and monotone as ever, yet an almost resentment could be seen on her face, mixed with sadness and regret. "And, whoever you are, I can't allow you to exist, so long as you insist on tainting what Eve held to be true. We will battle. And if I win, I will make sure that you die by my hands."

Eve trembled, while most of her pokémon gaped at Hope in shock. Thistle, however, leapt forward, putting herself between Hope's pokémon and Eve while fanning her wings aggressively.

~I won't let you hurt Eve! Not ever, even if you helped us see her again!~ She let out an unearthly shriek, exactly like the piercing cries her enraged parents had given when trying to protect their egg.

"You'll be the first opponent, then," Hope said, seeing the massive, prehistoric pokémon ready herself with a fervor that never could have been duplicated in any situation less drastic than this. "Pidgeotto, you're up. Attack as you wish."

The pidgeotto quickly flapped into the air and then dove towards Thistle in an aerial ace attack that was almost too fast for either Thistle's or Eve's eyes to follow; she hit Thistle beak-first before quickly swooping away.

Though the aerodactyl's thick hide managed to prevent much of the damage, she still shrieked at the pain of the attack and instinctually flapped her wings, rising in the air maybe twenty feet before realizing that, due to Suicune's barrier, she had absolutely no room to maneuver.

Pidgeotto took advantage of this situation and began a barrage of wing attacks aimed at Thistle's back; because of the tightness of the space, Thistle could not fight back and was forced into a crash landing, all the while taking hits from the more agile bird.

"Thistle! You've got to-"

"Leave the battle to them," Hope said loudly, interrupting Eve before she could give Thistle any directions. "After their weeks spent with me, your pokémon know how to fight on their own. Let them."

~That's right!~ Thistle said as a high-frequency cry rang through the air, directed at Pidgeotto; the bird's flying immediately became erratic as she succumbed to the supersonic attack. ~Just rely on us, Eve! We won't let Hope or any of her pokémon hurt you!~

Eve felt something smooth nudge her hand, and she looked down to see Hannah's head pushing against her palm. ~Thistle's right. We can handle this.~

Fur that radiated warmth rubbed up against Eve's back, and she looked up to see Aiden hovering behind her. ~Trust us, Eve,~ he insisted. ~We probably know the fighting styles of Hope's pokémon better than you do.~

"This battle is strange, isn't it," Hope suddenly said, though her voice was unquestioning. "Thistle lost her parents due to humans. My pidgeotto lost her children due to other pokémon."

"What are you trying to say?" Eve asked as one of Thistle's crunch attacks came just short of reaching its target. "Thistle's parents could not be allowed to stay in the wild. They would have killed me, given the chance. They had to die."

Thistle suddenly snapped her head back to Eve in shock, giving the pidgeotto a few moments in which to recover her bearings. ~What do you mean, Eve?~ Thistle said. ~You did what you had to, I know, but… You're not saying that you wanted my parents dead, are you?~

Eve shook her head, frowning as self-contradictions formed in her mind. "That's not it! But… they were terrifying. They would have been a threat to any humans they encountered!"

Thistle was soon forced to return to her battle as the recovered pidgeotto once again resumed her attacks. Eve's other pokémon, however, had their incredulity hindered in no such way. ~Eve, what are you talking about?~ Hannah asked. ~That's not ever how you felt about it! You were scared, yes… it's true that they were terrifying. But now you act as if it's good that Thistle's parents were killed!~

"No, you don't understand!" Eve said as the pidgeotto finally took her aggressive attacks one step too far, opening herself up to Thistle's powerful fire fang attack; the bird could have fit wholly in Thistle's mouth had the aerodactyl bit down differently, and this size difference made the attack all the more devastating. Thistle held onto her opponent for a few moments, squeezing and shaking her with her jaws before finally dropping the charred, knocked out bird to the ground. One attack was all that Thistle had needed.

Eve, however, was too upset by her other pokémon's misunderstand of her too pay attention to the battle. She continued, "Team Rocket – they helped me realize how wrong I've been! I love you guys, but other pokémon – wild pokémon – they're too dangerous! It's hard for me to even count the times my life has been put in danger by them!"

All of Eve's pokémon backed away from her slightly, as if to get a better view of the person that up until now they had recognized as Eve.

Hope, however, hardly gave all the drama a second glance, though she could clearly hear Eve's part of the conversation. "Hmm… Spinarak, then. You're up."

The bug type was small enough that she could easily have sat upon the tip of Thistle's nose while barely obstructing the aerodactyl's view, and yet she boldly went out onto the field and immediately sent a fully-formed, very strong spider web shooting towards the much larger pokémon. Thistle tried to dodge, but ended up with one wing partially gummed against her side, its mobility harshly limited.

As Thistle charged forward to annihilate the spinarak before any more webs could be made, Eve's other pokémon once again turned their attention to their trainer. ~Eve…~ Blight said as she floated near once again. ~What did Hope mean when she said you weren't Eve? You are Eve, right?~

"Of course I am! How could you doubt that?" Eve said, wincing as she saw Spinarak use the restricted movements of the aerodactyl to her advantage, darting in close and digging her poison-tipped horn into Thistle's leg before darting away. "My opinions have just changed! That's all! I just realized stuff that I was too blind to see before!"

The long, blue body of Pebble suddenly snaked around Eve, winding tightly around her all the way up to her chin. Eve felt her pulse speed up in fear. Of course, her logic told her that Pebble would never do anything. _But maybe pokémon are pokémon, even if they are captured, _part of Eve's mind thought, instinctually terrified.

~No…~ the dragon said as he swung her head down to look Eve in the eyes. ~Hope is right. This isn't the Eve that we know. Team Rocket has done something to her. Eve would never feel fear from me wrapping around her, no matter how tightly I squeezed.~ As if to emphasize his point, Pebble tightened his coils slightly, and Eve felt her heart beat wildly in her throat.

Eve shook her head frantically. "No! I don't know what you're talking about! They didn't do anything to me! They've been kind to me ever since Brian saved me!"

Thistle's movements were becoming ever more sluggish as layers of webs physically restricted her and energy-sapping poison drained her strength.

~Since Brian saved you? Eve, what are you talking about!~ Hannah said, almost frantically. ~He kidnapped you! And I… and I couldn't do anything to stop it, no matter what I did! You did all you could to save all of us, and to keep us away from him! You even made sure that I kept Hope out of harm's way! What are you saying? You can't have really… You didn't really forget that, did you!~ The meganium talked like she had been tormented by the moment of Eve's capture ever since that day.

The accusations made Eve confused and, strangely enough, guilty; she quickly turned her attention back to Thistle's battle to try to ignore the jumbled thoughts of her head. As Eve watched, she saw the exhausted aerodactyl suddenly extended one of her wings towards the spinarak, managing to catch Spinarak in her own webs. Before the bug could pull herself from the webs, Thistle slammed her against the ground in a brutal sort of wing attack. As with pidgeotto, the one attack coming from such a physically superior pokémon was all that was needed, and Hope recalled the spinarak to her pokéball.

"All right, then," Hope said. "Luxio. Your turn. I expect you to do better."

Hannah was saying something again, but Eve continued to ignore her as she struggled within the coils of the dragonair. "Pebble, let me go! I can't let Thistle fight in the condition she's in! She's poisoned and slowed by the webs! If she keeps fighting –"

Thistle put all of her remaining energy into one final charge towards the luxio in front of her, right as the luxio released a powerful thunderbolt attack from his fur. Thistle, unable to keep going in the face of the attack, tripped and skidded to the ground, wholly knocked out.

"You see, Pebble! I could have prevented that, but-"

~What you don't understand is that we're more pained by what you've been saying than by any attack we might endure,~ Pebble said, tightening his grip so much that Eve's breathing became restricted.

~I'll go next!~ Blight said, suddenly flying forward in extreme agitation. She'd been mostly quiet throughout the conversation, but now it was easy to see just how upset that she was. ~I'll… I'll prove to you that you can trust us! And you can trust Hope and Mark and Katsu and Suicune and everyone, too, even if Hope's acting weird now!~

"Blight, wait!" Eve said, wishing that her arms weren't bound so that she could return both Thistle and Blight to their pokéballs. Though Blight's unique abilities as a ghost sometimes gave her an edge in a fight, she had always been mostly hopeless at battling. Eve didn't want to see Blight or any more of her pokémon get hurt, especially if they were leaping into battle while still mentally focused on her. But Blight had already disappeared into thin air, somehow managing to evade the thunderbolt that Luxio had shot at her just moments before she became invisible.

~Eve, answer my questions! Quit ignoring me!~ Hannah blurted, once again drawing Eve's attention away from the battle. ~Why don't you remember that day?~

Eve turned her head as much as she could manage to look Hannah in the eyes, and said, "Hannah, I didn't forget it! But you have it all wrong! Mark, Hope, and Katsu ambushed Brian and I as we came out of the cave, and Mark stabbed me with a poisoned knife! He tried to kill me, Hannah!" Tears leapt unbidden to Eve's eyes. _This is so wrong! What's going on? Why can't Hannah remember what happened? Isn't it obvious what happened? Hope is still trying to kill me, even now! And – and – I don't want to die! Not now! Where is Brian, and Team Rocket? Why can't they protect me! I just want this all to go away!_

But when Eve looked past Hannah to the crystal wall, she saw that out there, in the gloom of the rain, Team Rocket was indeed trying and failing to get in. And she could see that Suicune herself was tiring quickly from the attacks the barrier was sustaining.

_If only I can defeat Hope,_ Eve thought. _Then maybe I can force Suicune to get rid of the barrier, and I'll once again be in Team Rocket's protection._

~Eve, Mark wasn't the one who stabbed you with the poisoned knife!~ Hannah shouted after a few moments of stunned silence. ~That was Brian! I was there, remember! Jirachi only gave you his fragment once Brian carried out what his purpose was, and that purpose was to capture you! Eve, please remember!~

Images of the cave and sensations of pain flitted through Eve's mind, seemingly revealing the truth but disappearing before Eve could make sense of them. _Mark did it, I know that! Not Brian! But… Who's arm was that, holding a knife to my neck? When exactly was I stabbed? Was I in the cave when that happened? Outside it? Oh, why doesn't any of this make sense!_

Right at that moment, Blight fell to the ground. Though she'd managed a decent shadow punch earlier in the battle, one of Luxio's widespread discharge attacks had momentarily made her flash into visibility as she found herself too distracted by the pain to control herself. A quick thunderbolt had been enough to finish off the ghost-type from there.

The coils around Eve's body suddenly loosened, then fell away from her all together as Pebble unwound himself from Eve's body and slithered out onto the field. ~Hannah, Aiden,-~ he said as he left, ~I leave the rest to you. Help Eve find herself.~ He paused his slithering and looked back towards Eve, his doleful eyes meeting Eve's confused gaze. ~Eve… Please remember yourself. I can't stand to see you as nothing more than a tool used by Team Rocket to accomplish their goals.~

Before Eve could contradict him – before she could instinctually insist that Team Rocket only wanted to help her, not use her – he had launched himself into battle, hovering in the air just above Thistle's collapsed body as he shot off an ice beam. The attack hit its mark, but the luxio was only damaged, not knocked out by the attack.

Eve, still flustered by her confusion, fumbled with her pokéballs and managed to remove Blight and Thistle's unconscious forms from harm's way.

"Another strange coincidence," Hope spoke up from the other end of the battlefield. "The two pokémon from the Lake of Rage. I captured Luxio, giving him the chance to move on from his sorrow. You captured Pebble, who gave you advice when you were confused. You don't trust his judgment now. How odd."

"No, I do trust his judgement!" Eve shouted back.

~Then why don't you believe him? Or us?~ Aiden said, a whining sound rising in his throat. ~Before all this, you had figured it out, hadn't you? Mark had helped you figure it out, hadn't he? You wanted to summon Arceus so you could try to make the world a more balanced place for both people _and_ pokémon. Or was the time you saved a wild growlithe from a gang of humans just a whim?~

~And what about those weeks you spent being tortured by Team Rocket?~ Hannah pleaded, judging from Eve's lack of answer to Aiden's question that she was beginning to give way. ~They forced you to evolve pokémon! And when you wouldn't summon Suicune for them, they starved you and hurt you! Or was that just some silly joke done by your beloved Team Rocket?~

Eve collapsed to the ground, grabbing her hair in her hands and pulling with all her might, as if the pain incurred might somehow bring about the truth. She was so confused. Memories that she had glossed over during her time spent under Team Rocket's care came flooding back into the light of day, throwing shadows over everything she had thought she'd known.

"Surely that torture – those people forcing me to evolve pokémon – that was Lance, wasn't it?"

~Of course it wasn't!~ Hannah insisted. ~You evolved pokémon for Lance, but that was your own choice!~

As they spoke and Eve felt herself fall more and more into doubt, the battle between Pebble and Luxio raged on. Both were strong, but it was clear that the older, stronger, more versatile dragon had the advantage. He had first used a substitute and light screen to minimize the damage he would take, then proceeded into a dragon dance to boost his offensive capabilities; and thus powered up, the barrage of flamethrowers, dragonbreaths, and ice beams that Pebble fired of proved too much for the luxio to handle.

Without Hope even needing to say anything, Sneasel launched himself into battle, literally running circles around the slower dragon as he shot off ice shard after ice shard.

But Eve was too disoriented to concern herself much with Pebble's bad situation. She still sat on the ground, head in her hands as she tried to sift through her memories, looking for one grain of absolute truth to hold onto in her sea of illusions.

Eventually, her mind reached a breaking point, and she clung to the one idea that she had been trained cling to over the course of the past few weeks. She stood up slowly, wiping the tears from here eyes, and said, "I'm not falling for all your tricks, Hope," Eve said. Hope looked at her, expressionless as ever, as Eve continued, "I don't know what you did to my pokémon to make them believe you, but I know who I definitely can believe. I trust Brian, and I know he wouldn't betray that trust like how you have time after time. You helped to kidnap me once, I remember that much!"

Pebble, momentarily distracted by Eve's declaration, suddenly found himself blown back by a powerful blizzard attack that chilled the entire area that Suicune had enclosed. He'd managed to deal some damage through use of his flamethrower attacks throughout the course of the battle, but the ice-type had still proven to be too much for Pebble to handle.

Eve – more confident than before, but still with deep-seeded doubts in her heart – returned the dragonair to his pokéball and looked up to her arcanine. "Aiden? Will you fight next?"

A slight, almost regretful growl rose in the majestic pokémon's chest. ~I will, but I do so with a heavy heart. Pebble and Hope are right – you aren't Eve. Not the Eve I know. Still… if Hope intends to kill you, then I will do all I can to stop her!~ He literally leapt over his trainer, immediately engaging Sneasel in battle. Though the sneasel was still the fastest battler, Aiden was not nearly so outpaced as Pebble, nor was he at a disadvantage as far as typing was concerned. As this new matchup began, it was clear that, though Sneasel was landing hits more frequently, Aiden's attacks packed much more of a punch.

And though Eve was determined to keep her focus on the battle this time, she found her attention forced away from it as she was suddenly tackled from the side and pinned to the ground underneath the weight of Hannah.

~So you remember that Hope helped to kidnap you, but you don't remember that she's also the one who helped to save you!~ the meganium said, now absolutely in hysterics. ~Have you completely forgotten everything that really mattered! Have you even forgotten Basil!~

Eve was shocked into speechlessness. She had never forgotten him, of course. That was impossible. Yet somehow, she realized that she had also somehow avoided thinking of him in the past weeks while she'd been with Team Rocket. It was as if he had just been a passing occurrence in her life, not thought about again as soon as he was gone.

Tears flooded to Eve's eyes as Hannah continued in a sorrowful, more subdued manner. ~Basil was the first pokémon to ever really be friendly to me. Most everyone back at Elm's lab hated me, because new trainers always paid more attention to me than any of them. And the few pokémon who didn't hate me… Well, even they didn't really like me. But Basil – he was the first pokémon to be nice to me. And do you remember, Eve? When I first met him, he was a wild pokémon. He had no pokéball. I was officially your pokémon even before he was. But you knew him for years before that. He told me about the forested area he grew up in. He told me how you played with all the wild pokémon there, and how they protected you if ever a stray beedrill wandered into your path. That wartortle – the one who's tail hair you always used to wear braided into your own hair – do you really think that he was a vicious monster who needs to be beaten back for the safety of humans?~

Hannah's body shook now as she tried to contain her sorrow and anger. ~Do you really think that Basil… that he would… Eve, he died for you! He evolved trying to save you, even though he told me once that he never wanted to evolve again! He always wanted to stay a pikachu like his parents! But he evolved to try to save you, even though he knew that he couldn't best Hope's houndoom! Remember who you are and what you believe, Eve! For Basil's sake, remember!~

Eve's reality shattered. She still didn't know which memories in her head were true, and which were false. But she now knew without a doubt that it was her own memories that had been tampered with, and not her pokémon's.

_Basil… Dear Arceus! What has happened? I don't know what's going on, and I don't know what's right and wrong anymore, but I know I've been thinking and saying stupid, terrible things! How could I have forgotten him, even for a moment? How could I have forgotten my friendship with him?_

Eve looked up at Hannah, but found her view obscured by the tears in her eyes, continually welling up and then cascading to the ground beneath her head. "Hannah… Hannah, you're right! I'm so sorry!" Eve said, her voice little more than a whisper. "I'm… horrified at myself. I don't know what to believe anymore – everything's so jumbled in my head. But you're right about Basil. He was the greatest friend I could ever have, even before I caught him in a pokéball. And he was no different – no less dangerous – afterwards, once I caught him. Wild pokémon – they can't be – they aren't –" She struggled with her words, as if the concept she was trying to convey was completely foreign to her. Finally, she blurted out, "They aren't any more dangerous than humans can be, are they?"

Hannah slowly removed her body from atop Eve, relief practically flooding from her. ~Yes!~ she said emphatically. ~Both humans and pokémon have flaws! You always knew that better than anyone!~

"But I don't really know what I know anymore!" Eve said as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "Am I supposed to be afraid of both humans and pokémon, then, if they're both dangerous? Nothing makes sense anymore! Hannah, I don't know what to do! Who am I supposed to trust?"

~Trust me!~ Hannah said without hesitation. ~You can always trust me, and Aiden, and all of us pokémon that have travelled with you! We'd all give our lives to save yours! Suicune, too, would do anything for you! And-"

Bright light suddenly flared outside of the crystal walls, lasting longer and burning with a different hue than the quick, white flashes of lighting that had previously lit the battleground. Eve instinctually turned her head, and saw a huge, dragon-shaped mass of purple flames diving towards some Team Rocket members and their pokémon.

The flames soon died, yet the scene that they had revealed still burned in Eve's mind as brightly as the dragon hidden power attack. The Rockets were no longer attacking Suicune's barrier; rather, their full attention was focused on the three trainers who had at some point arrived at Spear Pillar.

~There, Eve! Those are the humans you can trust!~ Hannah said. ~Mark, Katsu, Jenna – they all are here to help you, I'm sure of it! Jenna might be scary at times, and maybe you hated Katsu at first, and maybe you couldn't even fully bring yourself to trust Mark until recently… But they'd give their lives and the lives of their pokémon to help you, I'm sure of it! That's why they're here now!~

Eve shakily stood up, and turned back to the battle. The darkness seemed to be growing as the storm clouds thickened outside the barrier; the only way that Eve could now see the battle at all was by the fleeting flashes of lightning and the bright crimson flames that occasionally shot from the mouths of the dueling hounds. But for the moment, it wasn't the fighting that Eve truly focused on. Rather, her eyes drifted to the impassive human face that seemed to hover at the far side of the battlefield, like a specter in the blackness.

"And Hope? What about her? Can I trust her?" Eve asked, uncertain. _Hope… She's the one who killed Basil and kidnapped me, isn't she? And she says she's going to kill me. I don't want to believe it, but she doesn't make empty threats. That look in her eyes… I'm certain she'll kill me with her own hands, just like she said._ The thought sent terror once again coursing through Eve's body. _I don't want to die!_

~What she's doing now is horrible,~ Hannah answered, not even attempting to mask her doubt in Hope. ~If she is really trying to kill you, then we will stop her. But I feel like even this – the battle, the threats – she's doing for your own good. Think about it: knowing what you know now, would you rather have died, or lived and destroyed everything that your friendship with Basil represented?~

Eve shook her head. "I don't know… But somehow, some part of me still wants to trust Hope. Even so… Aiden!" Eve suddenly shouted. "Aiden, I know now that I was wrong! I'm not sure what all's going on, but I trust you and your judgment! I'm really trying to remember the truth, so please, Aiden – I don't want to die! I don't want Hope to kill me!"

The battle had been at a stalemate for much of the time; neither of their fire type attacks had much effect, and so both Aiden and Houndoom had been forced to mostly limit themselves to a very physical battle of tooth and claws. Though Aiden had natural speed and power on his side, Houndoom had seven years of experience in battling as well as a strength that belied her size.

But now the battle began to tilt in the arcanine's fave. New hope soared into Aiden's body as he realized that Hannah had managed to break through to the true Eve, the Eve that had rescued him from a back alley all those months ago. His fighting grew more intense, and the attacks that managed to hit the agile houndoom seemed much more powerful than before. Houndoom was suddenly the one forced to give ground before the whirlwind of fury and loyalty that Aiden had become. He attacked with take down after take down, yet never showed the drain these all-out attacks had on his body; he was repeatedly hit with crunch techniques and shadow balls, and yet even this direct damage had no apparent effect.

The battle continued in this way until, eventually, Houndoom was unable to get up after being slammed against the crystal barrier by yet another take down attack. Aiden's tail wagged as he turned his head to look for Eve's approval, but he never had the chance to see it. All of a sudden, it became clear that he had battled well past his physical limit. He collapsed to the ground, the numerous burns and abrasions he had received during battle much more obvious now than they had been while he had still been filled with the energy of his loyalty.

Eve returned Aiden to his pokéball, a sad smile on her face. "Thank you, Aiden. I appreciate it."

At the other side of the battlefield, Hope returned Houndoom to her pokéball and said loudly, "Last pokémon for each of us, then. Are you prepared for what happens when you lose?"

Hannah suddenly leapt forward, placing herself between Eve and Hope. ~You're not going to win! I won't let you hurt Eve!~

"Hope, I understand what you were saying earlier!" Eve shouted desperately. "I realize that I was wrong! But I'm better now – Hannah and everyone brought me to my senses again! We don't need to do this!"

"You lie," Hope said. "You say that now. And you believe it, for now. When Team Rocket captures you again, you'll go back to how you were, clinging to every lie they tell you. You aren't the strong person Eve aspired to be. If I let you live, then everything Eve stood for would eventually collapse, through her own actions. Marowak, you're up."

Eve's pulse sped up. Somehow, her four pokémon had defeated the five Hope had use so far. But even with the type advantage, Eve knew that Marowak's prowess and strength in battle was nearly peerless. Hope had trained him constantly for over twelve years; even at a type disadvantage against Pryce's lapras, he had more than held his ground.

Though terror was coursing through her, accompanying the chaos that still boiled in her mind, Eve somehow managed to say, "Fine. If you insist, then we'll battle. But Hannah – I know I'm not a great trainer and that you're probably better at knowing what to do in battle than I am, but I can't let you take the responsibility for this battle. I won't just stand on the sidelines this time. Hannah, let me give the commands during the fight."

Hannah said nothing in reply, but at that moment, no words were needed, not even the unspoken words of pokémon speech. This was how it had to be, how it always was supposed to be: trainer and pokémon, working together, both pulling their weight as equally as possible.

"In that case, I shall take part, as well," Hope said. "You have your life on the line. I'll allow you the first move."

Eve closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If Hope was right about her being too weak to resist Team Rocket for long, then maybe it would be best if she and Hannah lost this battle. She was scared of death, yes; but part of her was even more afraid of becoming an entirely different person from the one Basil had given his life for. Part of Eve knew that she could not win this battle, and that part of her was resigned to the fact that if this was what Fate had in store, then perhaps it was for the best.

Then, Eve opened her eyes and released the pent up breath, dismissing the part of her that was okay with the possibility of death. This was the battle of her life. She wouldn't hesitate, nor would she resign herself to something so uncertain as Fate. Even if she wasn't the human that Basil could be proud of, she'd do all she could to make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain.

And so, with this commitment in mind, she gave the order for the first attack.

* * *

Sorry this chapter was late... again. At this rate, I don't think I'll be able to get back on schedule (school's been crazy), but I assure you I'm doing everything I can to finish these final chapters as soon as possible. These are definitely intense chapters that I can't just ignore; if I could, I'd have just written all of this and the coming chapters (one, or maybe two of them) in one sitting. But I can't due to homework, which is really disappointing.

Anyway, be ready! The next chapter may very well be the end!


	58. The Language of Life

**Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Language of Life**

"Hannah, poisonleaf!"

Hannah leapt into action using the attack that had helped her so long ago in that gym battle against Faulkner. From beneath the broad, deceptively beautiful petals that adorned her neck, Hannah shot razor-sharp leaves coated with poison towards Marowak.

"Lower your head and charge in for a bone rush," Hope said.

The marowak did as his trainer commanded, ignoring the leaves that, though painful as they hit his bone-covered head, were not powerful enough to dig through that bony outer protection into flesh. Only a lucky shot or two managed to graze the hide of his body, but it was obvious that the small cuts inflicted weren't deep enough for any poison to make much progress. Eve couldn't see much in the dark, but it was clear that the leaves hadn't even fazed him.

The Marowak's reckless charge caught both Eve and Hannah off guard; Hannah had no chance to dodge or defend when Marowak began to beat her again and again with his bone. It was all Hannah could do to keep her head out of his range of attacks, thus avoiding a quick conclusion to the battle.

Eve quickly fell back to Hannah's most useful retaliation. "Hannah, defensive vine whip!"

This time, it was Marowak who was unable to avoid the attack. Seven vines, each nearly two dozen feet long, snaked out from beneath Hannah's neck petals and began thrashing all around her, always just managing to avoid entangling themselves with each other. Marowak could do nothing as the grass-type attack lashed him again and again, until eventually he was thrown out of Hannah's zone of reach.

"Energy ball, Hannah!"

"Bonemerang."

The attacks launched at the same time and hit their intended targets simultaneously, the vibrant ball of green energy momentarily illuminating the battle and silhouetting the bone as the two attacks met halfway between their targets. The energy ball exploded in a bright flash as soon as it hit the ground-type marowak, sending the relatively small pokémon flying backwards. Meanwhile, the bone spun through the air and hit Hannah in the neck with a loud, painful sounding thud before bouncing off and inexplicably arching back towards the spot it had been thrown from. Hannah's bulk kept her from being moved by the attack, yet it was clear that the blow to her long, vulnerable neck was causing her intense pain.

Eve winced sympathetically, but she also saw a golden opportunity. "Hannah, use your vines to grab the bone! Hurry!"

~Right!~ Hannah said, seeing the genius of the plan even while she continued to gasp with pain. She ran forward, vines extended, rushing towards where the bone had fallen.

A flash of lightning briefly revealed that Marowak had recovered and that he, too, was moving towards the dropped weapon. He managed to make it to his weapon before the much slower meganium; moreover, since both pokémon had been single-mindedly focused on the one item, either one was vulnerable to an attack of the other.

It was Hope who noticed this, and took advantage of it. "Double edge."

Though Hannah's vines were extended, she was unprepared to use them in any sort of defensive maneuver; so when Marowak used all his strength to run forward and slam his skull into Hannah's chest, the much large, heavier pokémon was literally knocked onto her back. Marowak, however, felt no repurcussions of the strong attack. His outer bone protected him from any damage that might have been felt due to the sheer force of the attack.

Hannah struggled to her feet, and tears filled Eve's eyes. _Hannah is doing her best… But it's not going to be enough. Yes, the energy ball did a lot of damage, but not nearly so much as the bonemerang… And now that double edge attack… Hannah can't win this. Maybe it'd be best if I withdraw Hannah now, so that she can't feel responsible when she loses. Maybe-_

~I'm fine!~ Hannah shouted out, though the voice she defiantly called out with was shaky with weakness. ~Don't you dare even think about recalling me before this battle is over! I'm not going to let you be killed!~

Eve was surprised by Hannah's perceptiveness, but she nonetheless hurriedly chose to not let her determination go to waste. "Flash!"

Hannah angled her petals so that they fully faced Marowak, then lit them up with a quick burst of light even brighter and more fleeting than that of the elemental lightning that danced through the skies outside of Suicune's barrier.

Marowak instinctively rubbed his eyes, completely blinded for a few seconds.

"Now, Hannah – try energy ball again!"

Once again, the field was lit up as the sphere of pure energy formed in front of the meganium, then hurled itself towards its target.

But before it could hit, Hope said, "Detect."

Despite his blindness, the marowak somehow managed to perceive precisely where the incoming attack was coming from and sidestep it. The attack hurtled onward into the barrier, causing Suicune to cry out as she collapsed to the ground. The legend wasn't unconscious yet, but any more misplaced attacks – from either outside or inside the barrier – might be enough to leave those within the walls trapped until Suicune could wake up. That is, if she could wake up.

"Bonemerang."

"Vines out!" Eve said as the bone flew through the air, upset that her last plan had failed. "Try to catch it, even if it hurts!"

"Iron head."

Hannah managed to tangle one of her vines around the bone before it could hit her, badly mangling that vine in the process. Her victory was short lived, however, when Marowak plowed into her from her right, his suddenly steely head knocking Hannah onto her side.

Hannah started getting up to counterattack, bone still grasped in her vines, tears of pain leaking from her eyes. Trembling, she got to her feet and stood her ground, facing her opponent head-on. ~I won't let you die, Eve! I'll fight to the end!~

Tears flooded down Eve's face, too, as she grasped the meganium's pokéball in her hand with all her might. It was painful for Eve to see Hannah battling this far past her limit; and the fear of what would come after her inevitable defeat still haunted Eve's heart, that fear of death that all are born with and that none lose until the very moment that life is extinguished.

Hope looked at the face-off of Marowak and Hannah with uncaring eyes. "This battle is over. Marowak, fire blast."

Suddenly, a fear and despair unlike anything she'd felt up to this point coursed through Eve's body. Before she knew what she was doing, the bright red light of a pokémon being recalled to its pokéball flashed into existence, just barely reaching Hannah and returning her to the safety of her pokéball before the massive ball of fire crashed to the ground right where Hannah had been, searing away the marble bricks of the floor and managing to singe Eve's face from nearly twenty feet away.

For a moment, Eve looked dumbly at the now occupied pokéball in her hands. Then she collapsed to her knees, letting the tears flow freely as she clutched the pokéball to her chest. "No no no no no…" she murmured to herself. In her hands, she hadn't seen the red and white of the pokéball. She'd seen Basil's tiny, fragile body, burned and bruised and broken. Basil had done so much to try to help her, and yet… and yet… "No no no…" she muttered again. "Not again. I can't take that again. Not again… Not another dead body. Not another charred heap of flesh. Hannah… Arceus, no, I couldn't let it happen. Forgive me, Hannah. Forgive me."

Careful, measured steps soon announced Hope's approach. Eve clutched Hannah's pokéball all the harder, but she didn't look up. At the edge of her vision, she saw the ruthless, practically lifeless teen approaching.

Eve could see Marowak's bone club held in Hope's hand.

~Hope, no!~ Suicune shouted, using all of her strength just to growl and watch in horror as Hope approached Eve. ~Don't do this!~

Hope, of course, didn't hear what Suicune was saying. She was deaf to any pleas.

Eve saw the pair of feet come to a stop on the ground in front of her, standing atop the white bricks still slick with rain.

"You lost," Hope said.

Eve didn't respond.

"Are you prepared?"

Eve was paralyzed; her mind barely even comprehended that Hope was talking to her. Part of her dimly realized that Marowak was still out of his pokéball, solemnly bearing witness to the murder about to transpire.

The bone left Eve's vision as Hope raised it, prepared to strike.

Eve didn't know quite what happened next, or how it happened, or why. But the next thing she knew, she was still kneeling on the ground, within the calm dark of Suicune's crystal shield. In one hand, she continued to clutch Hannah's pokéball to her chest. Her other hand, however, was raised above her head, tightly grasping one end of the bone that Hope had struck with. That hand was in pain, as if all the bones in the palm had been broken. Yet she still held on to it with all her might, just as strongly as she clung to the pokéball in her other hand.

The bone tried to pull itself out of Eve's hand, and Eve finally looked up to see Hope still holding the other end, trying to get the bone out of Eve's hands so that she could once again attempt to go in for the kill.

Eve didn't let go. Instead, she looked Hope in the eyes and, desperation in her voice, she shouted, "I won't let Basil's sacrifice be for nothing! I won't let all my pokémon's pain be for nothing! I'm not going to die! Not now!"

And it was now that Eve understood for the first time that instinctive drive to battle that dwells within every pokémon. Without even thinking and without losing her grasp on either the bone club or Hannah's pokéball, she pushed herself up into Hope's stomach, knocking the larger teen back and forcing Hope to lose her grip on the bone.

Eve stood up and looked at the bone before throwing it to the ground and charging towards Hope. Hope was expecting the attack this time, however, and she sidestepped out of the way, tripping Eve in the process. Eve crashed to the ground, badly bruising the arm that she caught herself with, the arm whose hand still held Hannah's pokéball. Eve jumped back to her feet and spun around to see Hope closing in, bone once again in her hand. With nowhere to run and no better way to defend herself, Eve flung up her arms at the last minute; a resounding crack made it clear that a bone had broken, and the pain that shot through Eve's body told her that the bone was hers as opposed to that of Marowak's weapon. A cry of pain escaped Eve's lips, but she ignored the injury as she once again plowed into Hope, this time managing to land on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

"I can't die!" Eve yelled in Hope's face. Another crack and pain in her side told Eve that Hope had managed to get her club-wielding arm free enough for another attack, but still Eve held her down. "I came here to do something! I came here to do something about everything that's wrong with the world, and I can't let it end here! I won't let it end here! I can't let Basil and everyone else down like that!"

Silence filled the battlefield as, for a moment, Eve was too upset to continue shouting and Hope let herself be still.

Then a new sound filled Eve's ears, echoing through the darkness of the crystal-protected battlefield. It was the hollow, rattling, scraping sound of a large bone as it hit the ground and clattered to a stop some distance away.

Uncomprehendingly, Eve looked down to Hope's hand to see that the bone was no longer there. She looked towards the source of the noise. At first she saw nothing. Then, in a flash of lightning, she saw that the bone was lying on the ground, near where Marowak was still silently watching the battle between trainers.

Eve's gaze fell back down to the blank face of Hope. Except it wasn't as blank as it had been throughout the battle. There was a softness in her gaze, an almost affectionate look hidden within the purple-tinted dark eyes that looked back up at Eve.

"You're the Eve that I came here to save," Hope said quietly. "I'm glad I found you before it was too late."

Dumbfounded, Eve stood up; and with Eve no longer pinning her to the ground, Hope stood up as well. The two girls looked at each other, neither quite sure what to do now. In fact, neither of them quite knew or believed what was happening. Hope's actions had confused both Eve and herself, to an extent.

It was Suicune that woke both of them from their daze. In her clear, ringing growl, she called out, ~If you've worked everything out, then please let me take down the barrier! If it takes any more hits from the pokémon fighting outside, then I might die and you all would get trapped in here!~

"Suicune wants to let down the barrier. Otherwise, we might get trapped in here," Eve repeated, dimly, as if she was nothing more than a translator with no interest in the words she conveyed.

Hope looked to the barrier, at the moments of battle that she could see every few seconds when the lightning flashed. "The battle seems to be dying down outside. If we can just get over to Jenna or Mark, we'll be safe. Marowak still has plenty of energy. He can get us to them. Suicune can take down the barrier."

At these words, the sound of thunder and rain and battle suddenly filled the air, and Eve and Hope were immediately drenched. In her haste, Suicune hadn't even waited for Marowak to pick up his club and make it over to the two humans. Perhaps that was for the best; in a moment, Eve saw a strong thunderbolt crash into a pillar that had previously been just within the confines of Suicune's barrier. It wasn't unlikely that a lightning attack of that power might have been enough to completely drain the rest of Suicune's energy, killing her and trapping Eve, Hope, and all their pokémon.

But as Eve turned to see that electric attack, she didn't see what it illuminated: two bipedal shadows removing themselves from the protection of a nearby pillar and rushing towards Hope and Eve, one with an almost mad glint in his human eyes, the other with his large foreclaws poised to strike down the smaller of the two humans. Eve was ignorant to the threat. Only Hope and Marowak saw the impending danger.

True fear filled Marowak with purpose as he ran at full speed towards the attacker, but he knew he wouldn't get there in time. He was too far away, and he had been too late in seeing the charging ursaring. Hope saw this, too, but the realization did nothing to chase away the caring look in her eyes.

Before Eve knew what was happening, she was falling to the ground, having been pushed by Hope. She cried out in pain as she hit the ground with her broken arm and internally shattered palm, but even through the pain she knew that something was wrong, and that Hope hadn't pushed her to the ground for no reason. She heard the angry roar of an Ursaring and the terrible, wet sound of claw ripping through skin, somehow a thousand times louder and more terrible than all the roaring and rain and thunder combined.

Eve looked up right as the enraged blur of Marowak darted past, no mercy holding him back as he slammed his bone club into the ursaring's head. Ignoring the pain in her arms, Eve pushed herself to her feet and found herself facing Brian's skarmory. And just behind the steel bird was Brian himself, pokéball in hand. "I'm sorry, Eve," he said; but for once, his voice held no trace of conviction or sincerity. "But if even someone as heartless as Hope can bring you to your senses, then it's too risky for Team Rocket to keep you around, possibly using Arceus to ruin everything we've worked for. Skarmory, kill her."

The steel bird let out a cry like that of metal scraping against metal as he dove forward, ready to plunge his blade-like beak into Eve's stomach.

Out of nowhere, Tim appeared just above the skarmory's head, using gravity to add momentum to his already tremendously powerful thunderpunch attack. All of the hairs on Eve's body stood on end as waves of electricity practically exploded from the physical contact between charged fist and metal bird, slamming the latter of the two to the ground in an immediate knock out.

Brian was already letting another pokémon out of its pokéball, but Tim hardly seemed concerned by that. ~Mark will come over here as soon as he can. But don't worry; I'll take care of Brian for now, and anyone stupid enough to come anywhere near you. You'd better tend to Hope.~

The abra disappeared, then reappeared as he reentered into battle against Brian's camerupt.

Eve could still hear the sound of ripping skin, replaying over and over again in her mind. Panic flooded through her, and she pivoted around to see Hope, standing where Eve had been just before the Ursaring's attack.

Despair and horror flooded through Eve. The long, wide gashes caused by Ursaring's claws began just above Hope's left temple, traveled down her neck, and ended somewhere right above her sternum, deep enough at that one point to reveal the top of the chest bone beneath. Every terrible detail was plain to Eve's eyes whenever the lightning flashed, the bright red of the blood that flowed freely from them standing out in stark contrast against Hope's suddenly pale skin. Even the neckline of Hope's shirt was low enough to let the entirety of the gruesomeness be seen.

With a steady hand, Hope reached up and touched the temple where the wound began. When she pulled it away, it was at first covered with blood; the torrential downpour quickly diluted the crimson liquid.

"I guess I'll have another scar to match this one, huh?" Hope said quietly, bringing up that same hand to trace the scar that ran across her face; the action left a line of blood to define faint scar. "Pidgeotto made that one, didn't she? I wonder if she's sorry for that… I don't blame her for it."

Eve noticed that Marowak had come back, his white bone dyed red with Ursaring blood. He said nothing as he looked up at his trainer with sorrow; he simply stood next to Eve, tears leaking out of his usually cold eyes.

"You know, Eve, I can't help but think that you were the perfect person to be chosen by Arceus, or by fate," Hope continued. Other than the quietness of her voice, she gave no indication that her life was spilling out of her, staining her shirt with its fading energy before puddling on the ground and mixing with the rain.

_Maybe she'll be all right,_ Eve thought, her mind denying the truth that stood before her eyes. _She acts like she's fine. Of course she'll be fine. She's trained herself to take hits like this and live through them. It looks worse than it is. Hope can't die. I don't think it's possible. _

Hope continued, "You can understand both humans and pokémon. You see things from both points of view. You spoke to the hearts of everyone you encountered. You didn't just speak for humans, and you didn't just speak for pokémon, either. You spoke – you existed – for everyone, for every single thing that has ever lived, and will ever lived. You even spoke to me, and for me. I was convince that I had never in my life truly heard what others said and felt, and that I could never care for anyone, myself included. It didn't make me sad; only empty. But you somehow knew how to speak to humans, and to pokémon, and to that emptiness that I had become. Maybe during all that time, you really only spoke one language. A language of life… That's what I like to think."

Even in the darkness with rain constantly pouring down, Eve could still see tears collecting in Hope's eyes, eventually dripping past her eyelashes and mingling with the hot blood and freezing rain that also trickled down her face.

The corners of Hope's mouth tugged upwards in a smile, a smile that somehow managed to be kind and warm despite the coldness around her and despite her own macabre appearance.

Eve was still speechless, denying what was happening.

"I'm sorry about Basil," Hope said. "I guess I was just like my pidgeotto, in a way – causing harm without really meaning to. I hope you don't forgive me for that. I don't deserve forgiveness for that. But… Still, somehow… I can't help but be glad that I died to protect you. It's funny, really. In death, I feel for the first time like I have a purpose in life. I had always hoped to find that purpose. That's why I always battled, searching for power. And it's why all my pokémon united with me to that same end. Because they'd lost their reasons to live, too. Even if it wasn't until the very end, I'm really glad I finally found that purpose. Even if it was just for these few, painful moments, I'm glad I finally got the chance to really, truly exist."

Other than growing paler and paler by the second, Hope had maintained the illusion that she was fine. Her voice hadn't wavered; her body hadn't shook. Now, suddenly, she closed her eyes and collapsed to her knees, then fell forward so that her head landed at Eve's feet.

Slowly, unbelievingly, haltingly, Eve knelt down next to Hope and took the younger teen's hand in her own. It was cold, as if Hope had been dead not for seconds, but for hours and days, or months a years. Maybe she hadn't even been alive as she'd spoken her final words; perhaps it had been the sheer force of her unyielding will that animated her as she talked. Perhaps that same will had been the only thing that animated her during the years and years in which she had walked onward, moving towards nowhere, from nowhere, with no one that could pierce her self-imposed isolation of mind.

~I've only ever seen her cry once before,~ Marowak said grimly, standing next to his fallen trainer. Neither Eve nor the ground-type noticed as the black feather woven into Hope's hair faded into shadow before reforming on Eve's head – finally, Death joined Life, Purpose, Power, and Unity, completing the quintet of existence.

Eve's tears fell onto Hope's back. She didn't dare move Hope's body, didn't dare shift her into a more restful-looking position. Some part of her knew that Hope wouldn't want that. "She cried before…" Eve repeated, half to herself. "When?"

Marowak solemnly laid his bone next to his trainer's head. ~It wasn't when Team Rocket killed both of our parents. I cried a lot back then, when it happened. I needed someone to cling to, and I chose Hope, the one human whom Fate had chosen for me to rely on in that time of crisis. Hope was only five years old when that all happened, but she never cried. She never mourned for herself, or her parents.

~Four years passed, and I still never once saw her cry. Then, ghosts began infesting the place where my mother and my siblings and I had lived. It was being changed from the graveyard it always had been into a radio tower for humans. Jenna and Evan were called in to do something about it – they weren't married at the time. They were hardly even adults, by your standards. And Hope – she wasn't more than nine years old. Jenna and Evan accidentally made the ghost of my mother appear, and she started attacking Jenna; Jenna might have been killed if Hope hadn't called me out of my pokéball to attack her. She disappeared before I quite knew what had happened.

~But the fact that she'd been there – been there right in front of my eyes – it was too much. I was confused, and sadder than I ever had been, even right after I'd seen her slaughtered. I don't think Jenna and Mark even saw it, but as Hope comforted me, holding me in her arms, she cried. She cried for me, when she could never even cry for herself, or her parents. And now… Now she's cried for you, too. But they were tears of happiness, Eve. She always thought she didn't have a heart… But I always knew that it was there. It was just hidden a bit. Hidden just like how we cubone and marowak hide our faces beneath masks of death.~

Eve shook her head, her eyes squeezed shut.

_Basil, Hope… First Basil, then Hope. Both died to protect me. A pokémon, and a human. If both humans and pokémon can sacrifice themselves for others, then…_

"Why?" she asked in a choked whisper. "Why, Arceus? Why, Mew? Why does all this happen?"

Suddenly, the rain stopped, the wind ceased, and the cries of battle were abruptly cut off. Time and space distorted themselves so that Eve was, quite literally, the center of everything, both physical and unreal, both past a future.

The words she had said – the questions that she so desperately longed to understand, understand so that she would know that the sacrifices of Basil and Hope might not be in vain – these words had indeed been spoken in the language of life, with an intonation leant power by the five fragments of existence that now adorned Eve's hair.

While speaking aloud, Eve had called out to Arceus and Mew in her heart.

They answered with all the force granted to them, the mother and father of all existence.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eve found herself in a place of nothingness. Blackness – not darkness, but blackness – surrounded her, engulfing her. She felt as if she was both separate from it, and a part of it. Other than that sensation, she felt nothing. She had no broken bones; as far as she could tell, she didn't have a body at all; and she found the idea of looking downwards to see if she had a body impossible to comprehend.

"Forgive me – I forget that the Original Dimension took even me a while to get used to, when Mew and I were first born."

Whoever the voice belonged to did something, and Eve no longer felt paralyzed by the blackness, though the blackness itself had not changed. Yet now that Eve had feeling again, she quickly realized that though she did in fact have a body, it wasn't her own body that she was in. She looked down and saw that she now had a small, pink, flexible body; and, moreover, it was a body that she had seen before.

~Yep yep! You're Mew, now, too!~ A friendly voice said. Eve looked up and saw Mew floating over to her, happiness on her face. ~I was so worried for you! I'm glad you made it! I was almost afraid that you were going to die before you got here, just like every other Not-Human that came before you! But I always knew you were special!~

The mention of death made Eve's mind drift back to the last thing that she remembered before finding herself in this place. Her heart felt heavy but accepting as she thought back to Hope, and back to Basil as well.

Instinctually using pokemon-speech – she wasn't sure if there was even a way to use human speech while in a mew body – Eve said, ~But where's-~

"Arceus?" the voice from before said, amused; Eve realized it sounded inherently masculine. Or, rather, any tone considered masculine seemed to originate from this single, human-sounding voice. "I'm right behind you, actually."

Eve spun around and found herself face-to-face with a large pokémon the likes of which she had never seen. It was mostly white, with four legs that operated similar to those of a rapidash or sawsbuck; yet he had no feet or hooves of any kind. He had eyes with which he met Eve's gaze, yet no mouth that could have spoken in the voice she knew had been his. His head seemed to swoop back, like one big, decorative horn; and his torso was encircled by a strange but beautiful framework seemingly composed of gold and emeralds.

During her human life, Eve had seen many representations of Arceus, whom many humans worshipped as God of the universe. But no artistic rendering could have ever accurately depicted the strange, almost surreal being that stood before Eve.

~Um… What…~ Eve said, at a loss for words.

"You collected the five fragments of existence that I had scattered across the world," Arceus said. "You summoned me. Fate has placed all of my power into your hands."

~Not just your power, Arceus!~ Mew said as she plopped her pink body onto Arceus's head. ~Eve, you also have all of the power that I'd given to pokémon, too! All my children have it still, but somehow, it has also been reborn in you!~

Arceus tilted his head slightly as he tried to look at Mew. "Is that so?" he asked. "I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it."

Eve was still at a loss. She had worked towards this moment for so long, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of it. She even felt like she might have a better idea of how to act if Arceus and Mew weren't both acting so… so… casual.

~But, um, what do I do?~ Eve said, her mind still bouncing between a dozen different things. It was hard to concentrate on just one idea: Mew and Arceus were in front of her; she had the ability to do pretty much anything she wanted with the world; she'd turned into an exact replica of Mew; Hope had just died; her entire perception of reality had been thrown into disarray, though she realized now that her mind was functioning properly again, void of Team Rocket's hypnotic influences.

Despite Arceus's lack of mouth, Eve got the feeling that he was smiling. "What do you do?" Arceus said, repeating Eve's question. "Whatever it is that Fate pulls you to do. Well, it's what you might call Fate. It's one of the few aspects of all existence that Mew and I don't fully understand. It's been around since even before we came into being, and though we always were in control of ourselves, it helped to guide us during the Time of Creation. Some humans know of its existence and call it God, rather than Fate. Then again, they also called _me _God, so it's hard to say if they're on the right track with that train of thought or not."

With her tail, Mew reached down and tickled Arceus's nose – or, rather, where his nose ought to have been. ~Dearie, you're getting off track. You're nearly as bad as sweet little Shaymin when it comes to that – I'd nearly forgotten,~ Mew said. Then, turning back to Eve, she said, ~What dear Arceus's point is, Eve, is that we highly doubt that Fate will abandon you at this point so critical to all existence. Just think, and I'm sure what you want to do next and what Fate wishes will come into line. After all, we doubt that Fate would have let you get this far if you didn't have the right way to change the universe.~

Mystified, Eve followed Mew's advice and just thought for a moment. Unsurprisingly, she found her thoughts drifting to Basil and Hope. She wished that they were still alive. But part of her knew that Fate, however omnipotent Arceus and Mew made it out to be, wasn't going to bring back the dead to give companionship to the living.

Her mind drifted, and she thought of Ho-Oh and Entei, and all of their beliefs. ~They were wrong,~ she accidentally said aloud.

"Sounds like you're getting somewhere. Who was wrong?" Arceus asked.

Eve half awakened, realizing how quickly she had lost herself in her thoughts. ~Ho-Oh and Entei were. They wanted all humanity exterminated, but I know that can't be right. Humans are innately good, even if many have their flaws. And Team Rocket and Brian – they were wrong, too. Pokémon are good, just like humans are. They don't deserve to be killed. And yet… They were both right, as well?~ Eve asked herself, wondering how she'd suddenly come to the conclusion even as she said it.

Mew floated down and circled playfully around Eve a few times. ~Really? That sounds interesting. If they were both wrong, how are they both right?~

~Because they both realized the one thing that I refused to recognize, time and time again,~ Eve said, understanding the answer even as Mew asked the question. ~Humans and pokémon are just too different. Humans will always try to use and dominate pokémon; it's in their nature. And pokémon can't control their emotions, and that combined with the fact that they're inherently more powerful than humans makes them dangerous. It's just like the both of you, really,~ Eve said, looking back and forth from the playful Mew to the somewhat more solemn, much more majestic Arceus. ~You're both so different from each other that you couldn't even live in the same dimension for all this time.~

"Oh, so it wasn't because I offended you in some way that you stayed away from the Original Dimension, Mew?" Arceus asked.

Mew floated up and hugged his head affectionately. ~Of course not, Dearie! I gave all my power to my children; I couldn't have possibly made it back here again without Eve's help.~

Arceus seemed contented by this answer, so he turned his head back to Eve. "So having figured all that out, what are you going to do, Eve?" he asked.

Eve scowled, an expression that looked almost funny on her mew face. ~Well, as they are, I don't think I can change either pokémon or humans and make it work so that they can live together…~ Disappointment flooded through her in waves as she realized the truth of her statement. If that was the case, she couldn't justify keeping humans and pokémon together. In making it so that humans and pokémon would forever be separate, could she really deny the companionship that so many future humans might have receive from being with pokémon? Or the guidance and love that so many pokémon would now never be able to receive from their trainers?

Yet there was no other way; Fate, or whatever it was, made this much obvious to Eve. As she tried to think of any other way that didn't involve separating pokémon, every sad moment of her life – primarily, the deaths of Hope and Basil, as they were still constantly on her mind – raced through her thoughts. ~There's no other way,~ Eve finally admitted. ~I can't change humans or pokémon – that's something that they themselves have to do. Otherwise, I'm just making new races and obliterating the old. They have to be separated until they grow enough to get along.~

"Just like squabbling children," Arceus said, a chuckle in his voice. "You know, Mew, we probably should have taught our kids better."

Mew playfully tried to catch the tip of her tail as she responded, ~Oh, I suppose so. But then again, all children have to grow up, and that's ultimately something they do on their own. So what happens next, Eve?~

~Well, as I said, we separate them. Pokémon will exist on the planet they have now. I'll wipe out all traces of human existence from their earth, and their memory of humans will be nothing more than a dim species memory of something so unlike them that they understand that even a steelix is like a cleffa in contrast.~

And as she spoke, Eve saw in her mind's eye exactly that happening. The world was wiped clean; continents and oceans shifted, changing into a completely new planet; and all pokémon from before were reborn. Even those that hadn't originally existed – unown, porygon, and the like – once again appeared on this planet that would remain their home.

Unable to stop herself, Eve continued, ~Humans, meanwhile, will live on a new planet in a completely different dimension. And their new world will have creatures that are the shadows of pokémon. Humans will start anew on this world, but they will remember pokémon through how they perceive these shadows of pokémon, these animals that they'll share the world with. In black-colored birds, they'll forever see the greedy trickster, murkrow; in canines, an arcanine's loyalty will always be apparent; cats will always have a liepard's cunning, mixed with the playful curiosity of a skitty. Even those pokémon that shall have no counterparts will be remembered – dragons will be thought of with fear and awe, though none shall physically inhabit the humans' new world.~

~Oh, hey, Fate's doing its job in guiding you, I can tell!~ Mew said excitedly. ~I like your ideas, even if it's sad that pokémon and humans can't be together for a while. So these animal things you're creating – they're to teach humans how to treat pokémon, right?~

Eve nodded, getting excited herself. She knew that her ideas weren't perfect; and yet, somehow, she felt that all existence might now be able to move in the right direction. ~Yeah, Mew, that's it! They aren't as powerful as pokémon, nor are they sentient in the same way. Yet they'll still prove useful to humans, and still dangerous in some ways. If humans can learn to treat even these lesser beings with respect, then I have no doubt that we'll be closer to what you and Arceus originally created: a world in which humans and pokémon can coexist.~

"And I don't suppose that you'll be completely forgotten among the humans, either," Arceus added. "Did you know? The name 'Eve', in the language that humans spoke when Mew created the unown, means, 'Mother of All the Living.' And you'll be like that to the humans, creating a whole new world on which they can thrive. Eve Addamson… Undoubtedly they'll remember it, whenever they think of the first humans born on their new world."

That thought made Eve a little proud. Actually, more than a little. A lot. So much had happened to her as she'd tried to get to this point; she'd lost so much. It was nice to think that finally, all of her sacrifices were paying off and she was making a difference. And it was nice to think that someday, this difference might be recognized, and appreciated.

But now that she was done creating the worlds – it had seemed so easy, really, just to think about it and have these new places and ideas come into being – now that that was done, her mind drifted back to sadder thoughts.

~All my pokémon friends, and all my human friends… Have they already been reborn, then?~ she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well, it depends on how you define time," Arceus said. "There isn't really any time or space in the Original Dimension. But yes, it has happened… Or I guess you could say it will happen, too. If we talk about it in reference to the moment after you disappeared to this dimension, then you would say yes, it will eventually happen.

Eve floated downwards a little bit, intense disappointment piercing the satisfaction she had previously felt. ~So they won't remember me? At all?~

Mew floated down to Eve and comfortingly twined her tail around Eve's. ~Yes, that's the case. I'm sorry… Helping all of existence can be a rather thankless task, can't it?~

"You can say that again," Arceus said. "I've been stuck by myself in this one dimension, with absolutely no knowledge of what was going on in the world I helped create until you two came to fill me in."

Arceus's attempt at playful sarcasm fell on deaf ears. ~Then I have just one more question for both of you,~ Eve said. ~When Basil and Hope died, what happened to them?~

~Eve… That's the only other thing we don't know about the universes. Even Giratina didn't really understand death,~ Mew said sadly. ~All we know it that they don't just disappear. But that's it.~

Tears filled Eve's eyes; the caring touch of Mew's tail no longer gave her comfort. ~So even though I did all this… It's as if I'm dead to them, and they're dead to me, right? There's no helping it, I- I…~

She couldn't continue talking; she broke down into tears. She'd reached her goal, yet in doing so, everything she cared about had been taken away from her.

~I… I don't care if I made the world better for humans and pokémon anymore!~ she shouted after some time of crying, while Arceus and Mew watched her helplessly. ~I take it all back! All of it! I just want to be with my friends again! Why? Why did this have to happen! I didn't mean for it to be like this!~

She broke down once again. Everything was gone. Not just her pokémon friends; not just her humans friends. Everyone. Jenna, Hope, Katsu, Mark… Aiden, Hannah, Blight, Thistle, Pebble, and Basil… She'd lost everything trying to get here. And where was she, exactly? A black, empty dimension. She had helped every single being in existence, but she had hurt herself infinitely in the process.

~Because now…~ Mew began, then stopped as if she was unsure of what she was saying. Eve quieted momentarily to hear what Mew had to say; Mew's confidence returned, and she said, ~The reason why it happened is because now, you can be for both worlds what Suicune wanted to be for you and for any other Not-Humans that would have come after you. She lost everything. She loved her trainer above life itself. Yet in losing him, she was able to dedicate herself to something better, something greater. I don't even need Fate to tell me this. I feel it, in my heart.~

"My logic, likewise, tells me that this is the case," Arceus said. "Except Mew is forgetting that Suicune alone didn't come to save you when you were on the verge of leading the world to ruin. Hope came, knowing that Team Rocket would likely kill her. She had nothing to live for – I suppose that's how you feel now. But Hope persevered anyway, and in the end she found someone she cared for enough that she was willing to die for her.

These two memories of human and pokémon aimlessly searching for purpose affected Eve profoundly. She still felt overwhelmingly sorrowful, as if she might just drown without even trying to save herself. Yet she also knew that she couldn't insult the memories of Hope and Suicune by giving up now. And she also knew that drowing in despair now would also be betraying Basil's sacrifice. She had to live on. None of the people and pokémon she'd lost would have wanted her to be miserable.

Eve used her tail to wipe the tears from her eyes, then brightened considerably as Fate gave her a thought – rather like a parting gift, it felt like, as if in thanks for all she'd given up to make everything better.

~And if they've been reborn, then that means that I can still meet them, someday!~ Eve said, with forced happiness. ~It doesn't matter if they don't remember me. They'll still be them, and that's good enough for me! We can be friends all over again!~

~And you can meet new friends, too!~ Mew added, cheering at Eve's new optimism. ~I've lived for long enough that I know how sad it is to see friends disappear. But I always manage to meet new pokémon and people! They never make up for the friends I've lost, but it's wonderful to think of how many new friends you can make when you've got as much time as you want to meet them!~

Eve pushed the remnants of her sadness away. She couldn't deal with it now; she didn't want to deal with it now. She wanted to be happy that she had done something worthwhile, and she wanted to believe that no matter where or when they showed up in the worlds, Eve would meet and befriend all of her friends again, while making new friends along the way.

_For now, I've got to believe that, _Eve thought to herself. _I have to focus on that. I have to keep going._

She quickly spun about in midair and zipped away from Mew and Arceus, moving farther into the blackness.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Arceus asked.

Eve paused and turned around, a somewhat forced smile on her face. ~I'm going to look for all my old friends, of course! Would you like to join me? Three super-powerful pokémon are better than one when looking for friends, I'd say.~

"But I can't leave here," Arceus said.

~And I don't want to leave poor Arceus all alone again, like last time,~ Mew said.

A real smile bloomed on Eve's face as Fate left her one last parting gift of knowledge. ~What are you talking about? Of course you can leave, Arceus. I used enough of your power making an entirely new world that you aren't going to hurt anything now… Unless you really want to, that is. So, there's no more need for you to lock yourself up in here. Oh, and there's more than that that you need to know, but you know what? I don't see why I should tell you here, in this dreary place. Let's get going! I'll tell you on the way!~

Mew and Arceus looked at each other, excitement and happiness rising within both of them. Then they looked back to Eve, who was already fading into a tiny pink dot as she floated into the distance, if distance could be said to exist in the blackness.

Without another word about to where or to when they were going, the trinity of pokémon disappeared. And though the one who led them moved forward with a heart heavy with unimaginable sadness, that detail didn't seem to matter too much. Her heart was also filled with hope, lightening the burden of the sorrow; and furthermore, she had made her first two friends in this completely new stage of universes, both ready to help her bear her sorrow if the sadness ever grew too big for her to carry alone.

But when it came down to it, it wouldn't have mattered if she hadn't had hope or friends as she set off from that Original Dimension. Suicune had received no sympathy for the loss of her trainer when she had been reborn; Hope had never hoped, and yet she had carried herself nearly all her life without truly having friends.

All that had mattered to Suicune and Hope – and all that mattered to Eve now – was the act of moving forward, away from both the good and bad of the past and towards the future, whatever it held.

* * *

I was crying off and on throughout the entire 7+ straight hours it took to write this chapter... Guess it's just the over attachment of an author to her characters... Poor Eve...

Anyway, as not very happy as it is, this is the end. I have so many thoughts jumbling through my head that I want to say to all of you (and that my vanity misleads me into thinking that you would actually read), so I'll be posting one more chapter as a final, very necessary author's note. It will be full of mushy, sentimental stuff about this fanfic equating to an entire year of my life and what it's meant to me and what not, but if you can make it through that, then you'll also get some insights into the pokémon fanfic I'm planning to write next (yet again, my vanity makes me want to believe that you're at least interested in any other pokémon fanfic I attempt, if you've read up to this point).

But regardless of the fact that there will be one more "chapter", please review now, if you would! The story itself is finally over, so I want to know your thoughts over this closing chapter as well as the story as a whole. Please - I've invested hundreds of hours of my time in crafting this story, and I'd very much appreciate your honest opinions of how it went!


	59. Closing Author's Note

So, time for the final author's note for this fanfic... EVER. First of all, let's get through all my mushy-gooshy writer stuff before I move onto what you really want to read.

**Sentimental Stuff... Sorta**

Here's the long and short of it: I've been working on this fanfic for 16 months. Aside from the occasional week or two where I was unable to write a new chapter in time, that means I was updating this fanfiction weekly for my entire senior year of high school. All of my creative energies were going into this story during these past months, and there's no doubt in my mind that when I think about this time of my life (the stresses of senior year, the summer anxiously waiting for college, and the actual first month or so of my college life), this story will get more than a brief mention.

And whether you're reading this author's note the day after I post it or a year later, the fact that you're reading it probably means that read the whole story, which means you shared in those 16 months of my life. Sure, I know it is highly doubtful that that means much to you; most of you probably just wanted to read a some pokémon fanfic or another, and you happened to stumble across my lengthy ramblings. Regardless, it means a lot to me. To all of you who have read the story, my sincerest thanks goes out to you. (And even more sincere thanks goes out to those amazing people who reviewed... And if you haven't reviewed, it's not too late! Do it now! ^_^)

**Closing Notes on the Fic Itself, and Possibility of a Sequel**

Okay, here's some stuff that wasn't directly (or, in some cases, even indirectly) mentioned within the fic concerning the ending.

Firstly, the other things that Eve was excited to tell Arceus and Mew as they left the Original Dimension. Mainly, Fate just wanted to be kind to them and make it so that all of them could live mostly normal lives (aside from the fact that they're immortal). All of them can transform into any being, be it pokémon or human. However, their true forms are still what define them: Mew is still Mew whatever she looks like (and always has been), and Arceus is still Arceus. Eve is the only exception: she always had the soul of a pokémon, but she lived like and was raised as a human. Therefore, her nature is one of duality. Both her human form and her Mew form can be considered who she truly is. This is how Eve (mother of all the living) was able to essentially allow both pokémon and humans to be reborn into their own new worlds. As either a human or a pokémon, she wouldn't have been able to do that, just like how Mew was originally only able to create pokémon while Arceus could create only humans.

I've received several questions about me maybe making a sequel... I'll admit that the chances are small. Though Eve's story isn't over in the sense that she is still alive and not everything is happily-ever-after, I meant for this to be where her tale ends. I can't even think of how I'd make a good story to follow up on this one. She could be traveling through time and space searching for her old friends, I suppose... Yet I can see that ending up as something trivial when it's compared to the world-changing quality of her quest in this fic.

Of course, I could at any moment have a sudden burst of inspiration compelling me to write a sequel the likes of which the world has never seen before... But I doubt it. So don't hold your breath, please.

**And... My next fanfic!**

If you would, please be so kind as to go to my fanfiction profile page (in another window, of course), and from there go to my homepage, which is my deviantart account. Go on. I'll wait.

...

You there? Good. As you can see, I suck at drawing stuff. I'm an author, not an artist. However, there's some cool stuff you might want to check out. I have a rough picture of Eve and her five pokémon up on there, which I'm pretty darn proud of considering I, like, never draw anything. Took FOREVER. It's not 100% accurate (since my artistic abilities - or lack thereof - can only do so much), but it's roughly Eve and her team at the end of the story.

However, there is a drawing that's much more important, at least in my eyes... 'Cuz it looks a lot better. It's the cover page for my upcoming Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fanfic, PMD: Defenders of Warmth. It's mainly just there as a teaser for all of you as an author's desperate attempt to get you interested in the fanfiction before it's even started.

...

What's that you say? You're not very interested in it based on that picture alone? Well, then let me just post a prologue/teaser chapter for you! It should be up by the time I post this author's note, so go to my fanfiction profile and check it out! Sadly, even this prologue chapter doesn't really reveal anything (hence the fact that it's also a teaser), so you'll just have to add that prologue to your watch list so that you know exactly when I start releasing chapters...

And about when will that be, you ask? Well, my best guess is in another two months... I wouldn't delay, except for two circumstances. One, I really, REALLY want to wrap up my Shugo Chara fanfic that's been in and out of limbo a lot... I'll probably just gecko end it in a couple chapters, though, so that won't take long. Two, I have recently been told that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, or just Nano), and I'm seriously considering attempting it at the cost of my sanity (I'd have to write 2 to 2.5 times as much as my norm for releasing weekly chapters, which would be crazy). There might also be a small-time publishing opportunity offered through my college if I finish and it's any good, so that'd partly influencing my decision.

So that's why the new fanfic probably won't be out sooner. But fret not! I'm very excited about it (as you can tell by this being the longest section of the Author's Note by far), and I plan to fix everything that I feel wasn't great about this fic, including:

Pacing (there were some points in this fic where I feel like it was dragging)

Character Development and a somewhat more character-driven plot (I always feel like my characters suck... It's probably just author's paranoia, but still... I'm really, REALLY going to be focusing on this in the new fanfic)

Not switching around the names of characters (I still don't even know why this happens...)

So yeah! Be excited! ^_^

* * *

...And that's all I really have to say. Thanks again to all of you!

And in a moment of both sadness and happiness, I now *OFFICIALLY* declare this fanfic COMPLETED!


End file.
